Notes on Facts and Suppositions about the history of Con. 8 Schools

Many blanks here.  Send me information to fill in the blanks; supplement or correct what is here.  Jack Culvahouse, 2651 Arkansas ,  Lawrence, KS  66046--- Ph. 785-842-0626 ---- email: jwcul@ku.edu

In large portions, these are rough working notes.   Forgive non uniform (erratic) editing, abbreviation, etc.; but errors in names and fact are probably real and correction will be very valuable. This version slightly updated and edited  02/13/06

TIPS ON VIEWING

-----Numerical superscripts like this⁵ denote  references to sources.  Click on superscripts to link to the reference information on the Source Page.  Other links allow viewing other pages containing items of relevance or to jump to another topic on this very long page. -----Return to previous position with browser's Back Button .

NOW PICTURES OF  GRADUATES AVAILABLE MANY OF THE YEARS.  LINKS ARE AT END OF LIST OF NAMES OF GRADUATES FOR THE YEAR IN THE YEAR-BY-YEAR SUMMARY

Content:  The Initial District Schools in Southwest Kiowa County
                 The Eight Initial Districts and Their Fate  

                Consolidated Dist. No. 8  

School districts, usually about 3 miles square but shaped to fit the local topography, began to be organized immediately after the August 1901 opening of the land to white settlement. It is known that during 1901-02, ninety four districts were organized in Kiowa County; but also that many did not operate classes for several years and sometimes did not have a building for even longer.  (In 1901-02 only 44 of the 94 had school that year and only 28 built buildings.)  By end of the 1902-03 school year, 106 districts had been organized. Between 1903 and 1907, four more were organized bringing the total to 110. This was the largest number of districts ever existing simultaneously. From 1907 to 1912 some were removed by consolidation and annexation; but the largest single effect was the loss of about a dozen districts when Hunter political township consisting of the strip of  1N survey townships on the southern edge of the county were transferred to Tillman county in 1911. The criterion used in these accountings of the district formation is merely that the district have a legal existence. The date of legal formation can be provisionally inferred from the original district number. But there are reservations. If it is less than 94, then it is a reasonable inference that it was organized in 1901-02 except for the consolidated schools in which case it appears to me that numbers were reassigned in order to provide low numbers for these. 

To date,  the only real information I have about when classes were first held in a district and where they were held has come from personal accounts I have found.  Before the district operated a school, the students were sometimes served by subscription schools such as the one operated by Mrs. Penn in 1901-2 in her home and then briefly in the newly completed Olive Branch school house. Sometimes the district operated a school but used a private home or even, in one case I know of, a chicken house. Another solution was to transfer students to neighboring districts further along in their development. The date of district formation listed in this compilation of notes for the several schools is based in all cases but one upon what I believe to be the original district number.  In the territorial years the school terms were usually very short, three to four months.  In the first year of statehood (1907-08) the range was three months to nine months, averaging about six months.  Four districts  had four month terms that year and ten had five month terms.  The short terms aided in recruiting  teachers, as it was possible to operate a farm as well as teach if the school was nearby. When the shorter terms were used, it was common to start the term in November or even December.   It appears that the first year of operation of Con. 8 in 1911, the school year started in December; but that was probably a month later than normal because of the loss of the new building by fire the previous month necessitating relocation of one or all three of the one-room school houses at the new site.  An early  November starting date probably allowed a six to seven month term.  Shortly after World War I, all rural districts had eight or nine month terms. 

The Eight Initial Districts and Their Fate

Lone Star, Olive Branch and Mackey were consolidated to form Con. 8 in 1911.  All of the Shiloh district joined Con. 8 in 1930 and probably all of the students above sixth grade attended Con. 8 for the 1929-30 school year. Four other schools Gladson, Pleasant Valley (No. 60 aka "Frog Pond"), Koonkazachey, and Mt.Tepee were the source of students in the higher grades especially after 1929, and parts of these districts were annexed into Con. 8 in the forties. This involvement of students from adjacent districts is a complex process not adequately documented in official records that I know how to find.. As the population diminished, these surrounding schools offered instruction through fewer grades, and when the older children in the family reached the limit of classes available in their district, they transferred to the closest school which offered that work and usually the younger children transferred as well. I also have examples of students especially on the fringes of districts bordering Con. 8 at the time who transferred while their district school still offered work at the highest level of any child in the family.  It would be interesting to have some idea of the legal factors involved in transferring, tuition requirements, and the factors leading to these transfers.  The legal annexation of the districts by other districts usually occurred several years after all classes ceased, all of the students having been transferred to neighboring districts for that time. One can sense, just from these sparse and bare records, the reluctance of the residents to close their local schools, and their hope that the transfer of all students for a period of time will be just a temporary expediency.

I was surprised to find there were eight schools involved over the years. On sharing that with some Con. 8 graduates of the late forties and early fifties, two of them said "Of course that's why it was called Con. 8".  That is a neat idea, but it was called Con. 8 when it first opened for classes in 1911.  The founders had great foresight, but it seems more likely that some one noticed this after it had become virtually true in the late forties, and very perceptively suggested that  Con. 8 was an apt name.

Information available to me about each of these schools follows:

Olive Branch: Location relative Con. 8: 1.0 mi. W, 0.5 mi. N    District No. 70   Year of District formation: 1901-02

Teachers: Dan Galloway--1906-07, Rex Hunter--07-08, Mary ( Adams) Faqua--08-09, Jack Rutledge--09-10, Miss Nash 1910-11, Stella? Brannon?   Stella Brannon is the name mentioned in the Mary Bock's article, but 

First School Board: Mr. Coulter--Chr., Mr. George F. Penn--Clerk, Mr. George Lacy--Member

Mrs. Penn held subscription schools at the Penn home at times from 1901-03. In 1902-03 George Penn donated the land for a building which was apparently complete by summer of 1903 and Mrs. Penn held a summer subscription school in the new building. The first regular term began later that year --probably November or December as was typical in the early days.

Olive Branch was one of the three original schools districts to form the Consolidated #8 district. It is noted elsewhere that the Olive Branch Building was moved to the Con. 8 site in 1911 after the new building for the site was destroyed by fire, and put into use until the new building could be replaced.  In one account , that building was used with cloth partitions forming three class rooms for at least most of the first term of school at Con. 8. Note: There is some variation in the details of this first year of Con. 8 as reported by several sources.

Mackey: Location  relative Con. 8: 2.0 mi. W, 2.5 mi. S District No. 104   Year of District formation 1902-03

Teachers:⁴ Blanche Carter--abt. 1908-1909, Ethyl ( Sanford ) Brannon---abt. 1909-1911

School Board. R. M. (Bob) Briggs,⁴ ......

The year of formation was first  inferred from the district number 104, as the total number of districts formed by summer of 1903 was 106.  Recently Wilma (Duke) Stout has provided a copy of a picture of students in front of a school building that  it is possible to identify as Mackey. One of the students is holding a chalk board on which is written Dist.104 , 1904. So we now know that the building was complete in 1904 at least.

It is reported that the Mackey building as well as the Lone Star building and Olive Branch building was moved to the Con. 8 site after the fire of 1911 and used as a temporary class room.

Lone Star: Location relative Con. 8: 2.0 mi. E, 0.5 mi. S District No. ?(8? 69?) Year of District formation: 1901-02

Teachers:

School Board: Probably T. B. (Tom) Locke,

The various historical reports are sketchy and uncertain about this district, and I have very little from the memories of the old timers except for the location of the school on which Ruby Heien ⁵   and Velma McFarland ^1,2 have been very definite as well as in agreement. Balyeat ^14,15 and also the study, Rural Schools of Southwest Oklahoma ²⁰ tend to identify it totally with Con. 8 and assign the district number 8 to it. The last of these gives the location as that of Con. 8.

I have been able to find no direct evidence for the district number.  In most other cases, these low numbers seem to have been used initially for school districts in the platted towns,  and it seems anomalous for this low number to appear for a school in this rather remote location.   I have thought it likely that the Original District Number was 69. This number is between that of Gladson and Olive Branch. In support of this, it is noteworthy that the three adjacent school districts to the south lying on an east west line are Lick Skillet--79, Mullins--80, Shiloh --81. I have concluded provisionally from careful study of Balyeat's summary of records of Kiowa County districts, that as consolidations occurred, an effort was made to assign the lowest possible district numbers to the consolidated district.  Balyeat lists Frisco (near Hobart ) as district No. 69. It seems very reasonable that in 1910, Frisco had the designation No. 8, and this number was reassigned to Consolidated 8, with 69, the lowest number freed by the consolidation, assigned to Frisco.  However there is also no direct evidence for this scenario.   This business is further  complicated by the existence of Swanson County from August 1910 to July 1911, in which the new consolidated district was established  by July as  Con. 2.  I think Snyder, would have been Con. 1 in Swanson County as Mountain Park did not consolidate until many years later.  For a few months all the school districts in Swanson county might have  had different numbers but in any case they seem to have returned to the old numbers when Swanson was dissolved. In the case of Con. 8, the  progress in organization was accepted when it moved back to Kiowa County and became Con. 8.  

Shiloh:Location relative Con. 8: 1.0 mi. W, 4.0 mi. S District No. 81    Year of District formation: 1901-02
Teachers: George Edge ²⁶ (1909-10 ?, definitely 1920-21 and maybe other years. See discussion in last paragraph of this section), Mrs. Hibbits (probably before 1920, she taught at Mullins in about 1918), , Miss Bonnie Lou Taylor (1922-23 and maybe longer), Miss Minnie (Brannon) Ellis --1926-27, Sybil Sanford (sometime in the 20's?)?, Stella Fraley (1928- 1930 and maybe 1927-1930). Miss Fraley was the last Shiloh teacher and then  taught at Con. 8 for at least 4 years,

School Board:  Warren Dempsey, Leon Messick,

Bus Drivers:   There were no buses or wagons officially operated.

George Dempsey²¹ says that his Uncle Warren Dempsey gave the land with the provision that the school be called Shiloh , Warren 's grandfather having lost a finger in the Civil War battle of that name. ³⁰  George also has an amusing and instructive story about Mrs. Hibbits a diminutive 90 pounder  disciplining  a  full grown student, over 6 feet tall and tipping the scales over 200 pounds.  The punishment was received with grace by the student and his family.

The Kiowa County Web site²³ includes information about Shiloh with their ghost town listing for Centerville . There the story about the name Shiloh is included and also a statement that school was first held there in 1909.  The original source for this was probably Lillie Dempsey's story ²⁶ in which she states that the land was given by W. P. Dempsey in September 1909, and George Edge was the first teacher.   Also It is likely there was a school district from 1902, and classes conducted.  I have no information on what schooling arrangements were in that 1902-09 period.

From 1921 to 1929, Shiloh was a "wing school" in the Mullins Union Graded No. 10. In this arrangement, all grades and some high school classes were given at Mullins with three teachers, and grades 1 through 6 were given by one teacher at the wing schools of Lick Skillet (79) and Shiloh (81).  Thus George Dempsey completed the 6th grade at Shiloh , grades 7&8 at Mullins, and did all four years of high school at Con. 8, graduating with the first "diploma class" in 1933.

Shiloh may not have fully joined Con. 8 until 1930, but the students above the 8^th grade certainly and probably all above the 6 ^thattended Con. 8 in 1929-1930 as Mullins and Union Graded No. 10 no longer operated.   The evidence for not being annexed in 1929-1930 lies in the enumeration  reports on Jan 30, 1930 .   There are separate reports for Shiloh and Con. 8.   In the Shiloh report, M. L. ( Leon ) Messick enumerator, all student-age children in the Shiloh area are reported in the Shiloh district.  That includes ones then in the seventh grade and above who are known to be attending Con. 8 (i.e. Pauline ,  George and Loyd Dempsey).  Dorothy (Estoll) Shelton , recalls that she and her sister Alene attended Shiloh that year and Stella Fraley was the teacher. According to her year of graduation Alene would have been in 7 ^th that year, but she may have skipped a grade after transferring to Con. 8.  The Jan. 1931 enumeration for Con. 8, Carl Heien enumerator, includes all the residents of the former Shiloh district.

It is probable that no Shiloh students were served by Con. 8 while it was a "wing school".   Union Graded No. 10 offered about the same amount of class work as Con. 8 in that period

The school building was bought by Curt Hooser and moved to the home site area of his farm just 3/4 mile north of the school site ²⁵   Jack Culvahouse may remember seeing the building there in the early thirties when visiting the Hoosers.  It was used as an element of or at least provided some materials for the building of the new Hooser house in about 1934 or 35.  The Hooser house was only a half mile from the W. P. Dempsey house built from the Mullins school house.  In this form, both the old schoolhouses remained a part of Con. 8 until 1964 when the Hooser house then owned by Coy Nichols was moved to Snyder where it still stands.  In the year 2000, the old W. P. Dempsey house was still on site near Shiloh corner.

George Edge and Shiloh:    Nona (Edge) Murphy's brief biographical note for her parents^18a list George's schools after they arrived in Oklahoma in 1909  as  #58, Withrow (or Rusler); #80 Mullins; and #68 Gladson.  Perhaps that is intended to be  the chronological order.    However as noted above, Lillie Dempsey remembers Mr. Edge as the Shiloh teacher in 1909,  and with that there is a picture of Shiloh students indicated to be circa 1908.   The teacher there does not appear to be Mr. Edge.   Also George and Gracie Dempsey have provided a photograph of Shiloh students in 1920 identifying Mr. Edge as the teacher; and there is a very strong resemblance of the person depicted there  to those of a somewhat younger George Edge provided by Mrs. Murphy in her article.  It appears that in several instances people have referred to teachers at Shiloh as Mullins teachers.     This probably arises from the connection of the schools as part of Union Graded #10 from 1921 to 1929.  The Mullins History does not list George Edge but it is admittedly incomplete.   The conclusion is that it is very definite Mr. Edge taught at Shiloh in 1920-21, but unlikely he taught there before 1910.

About the 1902-9 era.   It seems likely there was some schooling  in the first yarrangementears of this district; but may have been at a different site or it could date the beginning of a new arrangement.   A reading of the abstract data for the farm however has not shown any legal transfer of land to the School District, so it was probably not recorded, but was intended.

Gladson: Location  relative Con. 8 : 2.0 mi. E, 3.0 mi. N District No. 68 Year of District formation : 1901-02.

Teachers: Nona Coulter--- , Tod Muldowney----, Kate Leneis---, Edith Thurman, Miss Head---, Fannie Flowers-- Principals: Mr. Ford, Mrs. (A. J. ?) Stoops, Mrs. E. E. Martin, George Edge-- ,

Building: Two rooms. For a period of eight years (probably before 1919) had two teachers with one designated Principle. Picture and text by Nona (Edge) Murphy ¹⁸ available in Pioneering in Kiowa County , Vol. 6 (PKC-6), pp 49-50.

Balyeat's summary of the research of county records by Ms. Mansell ^14,15 says that the district dissolved in 1945 with part annexed to Con. 8, but that transfer of students began in 1941. Mrs. Murphy says that the school discontinued in the early thirties, "and the building was sold to Joe Braun, who moved it to his farm adjacent to the school.". Certainly we know and would expect that as the Con. 8 high school developed after 1929, many Gladson district students would continue their education at Con. 8 rather than Roosevelt.  There is  evidence from the 1937 Student Review that Gladson  was operating classes through the 8th grade in 36-37, as three students Margaret and Ruby Terry, and Clarence Baden transferred from there to ninth grade of  the Con. 8 high school in September 1937.  It may have been that fewer grades than 8 were offered in the later years of the school, but the building was likely not moved until the early forties.  This is in accord with my memories of  being at or passing by the school in the late thirties at least.

Actually there is evidence that some students in this district attended Con. 8 at least some from the earliest years.   Mrs. Murphy mentions the Higdons and Stogsdills among the pioneer families in the district. Yet a picture of students at Con. 8 thought to be taken in 1913-16 period, has identifications of Bird and Zona Stogsdill. Also Ruby Heien has written that Blanche (Higdon) Ethridge, a Con. 8 teacher from 1935-43, was an eighth grade classmate with her in the 1916-17 year at  Con. 8.  The Kiowa County land records of 1913 show land owned by Blanche's father very close to Gladson, and that of the Stogdills even closer.  I hope some of the early students from that area can supplement the information about the 1930's and the last days of the school.

Pleasant Valley( Frog Pond): Location relative Con. 8 : 2.0 mi. E, 6.0 mi. N      District No . 60  Year of District formation : 1901-02.

Teachers: Orin Bradley , Miss Stevens (lived in Snyder in  the 1990's), Ray Burton (brother of Ruby ( Burton ) Heien) in 1937-38 at least.

Building: One room, but two teachers about half the time.

School Board:

This school, just north of Gladson, was better known as Frog Pond. The area is flat and water stood on large areas, producing ideal conditions for the proliferation of frogs in wet times. Another school, No. 90 near Lone Wolf, also had the name Pleasant Valley , so the nickname is more specific. The nickname, "Mud Pond", was also used for the district 60 school, another reflection of the  hydrographic conditions in the area.

According to Balyeat^14,15 this school operated through the 1946-47 school year, and part was officially annexed to Con. 8 in 1949. However, Alma (McKinnis) Fowler remembered  that George McKinnis's daughters attended Frog Pond until the 1938-39 school year, when they transferred to Con. 8.   Hazel was in the 8th, Alma in the 7th, and Francis Jo in the 4th that year; all three transferred.  Also George was elected to Con. 8 School board  in 1941.   This is another example of the involvement of students from these surrounding districts while their district school was still operating and long before official annexation.  Bufford Lowell who lived on the land just south and a bit east of the McKinnis farm, remembers transferring from "Frog Pond" to Con. 8 when he was in the 2nd grade. This would have been the 33-34 school year. Bufford had older sisters but they never attended Con. 8, so this is an example of a transfer from a neighboring district under conditions that do not seem related to the unavailability of class offerings in the districts for any family member.

I am interested in any clues toward learning about the petitioning process by which these transfers were made, and what financial arrangements were made.  Among the county records for the schools that have been preserved,  I have found one document dealing with the attendance record for four students who transferred from   District 58 (called Withrow or Rusler lying just north of Roosevelt) to Con. 8 during the 1926-27 school year.  The document includes a calculation of the transfer fee.  For that year the cost of operation per student per month as established by the County Superintendent was $2.25 for common school and $4.89 for high school.   

In the spring of 1938, the Con. 8 grade school softball team played a doubleheader at Frog Pond (which the student paper referred to as Pleasant Valley ). Con. 8 lost both and the coach there, Ray Burton, said that his team would return the visit the next week.  That was too late for the results to be reported in the paper.  Another softball doubleheader was reported the next spring (1939) when Pleasant Valley visited Con. 8, who won both games.

Goldie Cooper, has written a history of this school  published in the Pioneering in Kiowa County, Vol. 1 (PKC-1), p270. ²⁷ I overlooked this for sometime as the title reads: " Pleasant Valley , District Number 90" , which is the proper description of the school near Lonewolf.  Finally, I noted the byline for Goldie Cooper who I knew had lived in the "Frog Pond" community.    She does not use the nickname, but it is clear from the names of the early settlers and the teacher list that her subject is district 60.  The school position is given as on the Louie Lanig farm.  The 1913 plat of the township shows the school on the farm owned then by Alvis Lanig,   In the 1920 census, there is a person listed as Alois Lanig. It seems likely that these are all the person Mrs. Cooper refers to has Louie.

Mrs. Cooper  list many teachers not in the list above.  Many of those are teachers who also taught at other schools within the final Con. 8 area. Bufford Lowell remembered Mr. Orin Bradley, but Mrs. Cooper lists two apparently different Bradley's,  Mrs. Orin Bradley and Morey Bradley.  ..

Koonkazachey: Location  relative Con. 8: 3.0 mi. W, 9 mi. N?   District No. 109     Year of District formation 1903-1907

Teachers: (these are given in great detail complete with salaries by Sally Mansell²⁸ in a fine article in Pioneering in Kiowa County , Vol. 1 (PKC-1), pp 276-279.  See end of section for other information from that article.)

School Board:

The location given is the NW corner of the town plat.  Bill Blish has taken me to the site where there is no evidence left of the old school. . Also note that schools more than 5 mi north of Con. 8 are north of the "correction line". I have not allowed for the offset in giving mileage. I could give the legal descriptions, but those are very hard for most people to read. The new system of rural road designations based on 10 blocks to the mile, are going to be more useful for drivers, but are not given on many maps. Eventually I hope to use these designations to produce a map with driving instructions. Click here for current map of school locations.

Looking to the future when every vehicle is equipped with Global Positioning Devices, the latitude and longitude might be even better!!!  This seems far-fetched, but Don Ellis told me that combines as of 1999 come equipped with them and other computer controlled devices so that a record can be made of the yield from each square yard  of a field.  About $20,000 added cost I think   In 2003, Bill Blish took me to the exact Koonkazachey site (which he recalled with precision although there are no markings left).   A hand held GPS device recorded the following coordinates for the site: 34.9058 degrees north,  99.1621 degrees W.

The year of formation is based on the district number. Balyeat states that four districts were added in the four years 1903-1907, bringing the total to 110. Koonkazachey was probably organized in the later part of that period. That reference also records that part was annexed to Con. 8 in 1949, but transfers beginning in 1945. I am certain that some of the areas north of the correction line were served by Con. 8  before that. I know that in the spring of 1943, the #3 bus went as far north as the road just south of Camelback Mountain. Of course as in the case of Gladson, the high school students would have the option of attending Con. 8. The Blishes began attendance at Con. 8 in 1940, but that could have been because J. D. was entering 9'th grade.  The Pioneering in Kiowa County series contains a lot of pictures of students and teachers at Koonkazachey with some identified, including the Blishes in 1938-39.  None of the Blish family are shown in the  1941-42 picture. Ted Blish has verified this 1940-41 date as his first attendance at Con. 8 from the fact that he was in the 3rd grade at the time.   The Blishes are identified as Con. 8 students in articles found in the Student Review   stories for 1940-41.  Actually the 1938-39 photo identifications give names as J. D,  Bill, and Teddy "Bish".   Bish was an important name in the northern part of the county, but I am rather certain both from the first names and what I can make out of the details of the picture, that the people depicted are the Blishes.  Ted has also told me that Koonkazachey did have high school work in 1940, but his father obtained a transfer to Con. 8 because he thought it offered a better educational opportunity for his children.

I wrote most of  the last paragraph before I was able to read a copy of Sally Mansell's article, and I have let it stand with this note added. She was apparently working from  the actual records of the district, and was able to give much precise detail over the entire period of operation.  She gives the year the school began operation as 1906.  The year of district formation was also probably at this time as had been inferred from the high district number.  It has also come to my attention that there is a good reason that the district was not even organized on paper before 1906.   The town of Koonkazachey lies within or on the eastern boundary of an area once known as the "Little Pasture".  This land was not plated until 1906,   and from 1901 till then was range land leased to ranchers.  Ms. Mansell states also that a second room was added in 1907, and includes an early photograph of the building.

Mt. Tepee: Location relative Con. 8:  5.5 mi. W, 7.0 mi. N     District No. 75   Year of District formation: 1901-02.

Teachers: Howard Rice, Ed Campbell (1916), Earnest Jackson (1917), Lela Barton (1914)

Building: One room stone.

School Board:

According to Balyeat^14,15   this school operated with one teacher through 1945-46. Transferred for two years and part was annexed by  Con. 8. in 1948.

Mr. Floyd Hand supplied three pages of pictures of Mt. Tepee teachers and students in the period 1912 to 1920 for Vol. 6 of PKC (pp 77-79).  The few identifying names that I can make out are not any that I recognize as being involved in Con. 8, but those were very early days. The building is of shaped stone and large for a one room school. The picture for 1916 shows about 37 students. I hope that my survey of alumni may turn up examples of Con. 8 students who began at Mt. Tepee.  This school is the only one of the eight mentioned here which was still standing in 2003.  

This school is very near to Soldiers Spring School, Dist. No. 33.  The 1913 township plats show two schools in this area both identified as School  Dist. No. 75.  The northernmost of these is Mt. Tepee,  and the other is really District 33, shown at the position it was located  1916until in which year it was relocated about a half mile to the southwest near the spring known as Soldiers Spring .

. Consolidated Dist. No. 8

Chief Administrative Officers of Con. 8- - Superintendent sometimes called Principal in early period.    Mr. Herbert -- Van Burkelo1911-12 (6,7&8th), Mr. A. J. Stoops--1912-13, Dona Parsons--1913-14, Mr. A. J. Stoops--1914-17, Mr. S. A. Mitchell--1917-18, Mr. J. F. Shortt--1918-20, Mr. J. W. Stewart--1920-25, Mr. J. T. Biffle--1925-30, Mr. Hobson Burris--1930-31, Mr. Clarence L. DeWees--1931-46, Mr. Virgil E. Woods--1946-54, Mr. Asa Marshall--1954-55, Mr. E. L. Whitten--1955-57.

Con. 8 before 1929

Teachers Other than Chief Administrators Known for Period 1911-1929:

Miss Theresa Lugert--__________?, Miss Loneta Reneau--__________?, Miss Zona Stodgsdill---__________?, Miss Jewel Burton--abt.. 1915- (grades above 8th, the first high school teacher)-_____, Mabel (Ethridge) Browning---abt.. 1911 (3,4&5th)- _____ , Miss Etta Buel-- abt.. 1911-_________,Miss Newty Barnett--__________?
Mrs. Ruby (Burton) Heien--1923-24  and maybe another year at least. Mr. Stinnet 6th and above  in late twenties to early thirties, Lela Bristow 6th-7th?   Mabel Wilks (then Mabel Mannen) in the late twenties.)
Mrs. Anna Bowman   5th & 6th 1921-1922.   Mr. Weight  5th & 6th 1922-1923.    Mrs. Bozman  7th & 8th 1923-1924.

School Board: 1911-12: George F. Penn, member; T. B. (Tom) Locke, chairman, R. M. (Bob) Briggs, clerk.

George F. Penn--1911-1928, T. B. (Tom) Locke--1911-______, R. M. (Bob) Briggs--1911-_____?, W. P. Sims--__________,

I include here also my school board summary information for the years after 1930 which might include persons serving before that or even only before that. Some of these are included in the Year-By-Year documentation that follows and eventually all will be placed there as years of service are clarified.

E. R. Fowler--_nominated once but declined I believe, Charles (L.J.?) McNutt--, Charlie Bock--, Russell Shockley--________________, Roy Bolding--________________, George McKinnis--(1941-1950?), Aaron C. Jackson--______________., ElmoMitchell--________________, Horace Holder--, Carl B. McClure (___--1941),Ben Hutchinson (1938-44), W. P. Dempsey (at least 1934--) , Carl Heien(sec. in 1935 and 36 and probably since 1930), George W. Brown (President in 1935,36 and 37).

Wagon Drivers: (before 1923): Mark McFarland--___________, Hollie Moore--____________, Mr. Holt (Eskil Holt's father?)--___________, George Lee Riley (Virginia (Jones) Sims' grandfather) -- the first two of these would have been young, late teens or early twenties –see many more drivers for the 1914-15 year under the chronological story below.

Bus Drivers: Mark McFarland---abt 1923-1957. Mark drove a bus most of these years but missed some in the late thirties and early  40's, Don Burton---_____________,

I include here also some bus drivers after 1929 although I hope eventually to get more definite years for their service and list them in the Year-By-Year  summaries only.

Mr. Gilmore--1933-35 and 37-41 , Bud Ayers--___________, Albert Baden--1941?-, Mr. Webb, Bob Smith-- ___________, Robert Schrader---___________   B. T.  Cooper-1950( is this J. Tesla "Dutch"? )-- , -Lester Ellis-, Joe Manning (#4 1940--?), Leon Messick (#4 probably in early tthirties), Winford Bock--(#3 in 1937-sometime in forties), Dutch Cooper--_(same asB. T.?)___________, Lee Speights--_____________, Alvin Duke 1935-36 and probably in earlier years.   Some of these and many others are listed in the Year-By-Year.

School Facilities: Building 1911--The first building was completed in 1911 term just in time for classes, burned, before the start of school which was probably scheduled to start in October. My sources seem to say at least two different things:  (1) Olive Branch School house (the largest) was moved to the Con. 8 site. Curtains divided it  into three rooms.    (2)   All three one-room buildings were brought to site.   Both of these versions are supported by some evidence.  Most likely the Olive Branch  building was moved right away and the others may have been added during the year.

By 1913 and probably by spring 1912,  a two story wood frame building was finished.  There were  three class rooms on the ground floor probably used for grades 1&2;  grades 3,4&5; and grades 6,7,&8.  The large Auditorium on the top floor was  used for advanced classes (above 8th) beginning in 1915.   From pictures it is clear that there was a full or nearly full basement.  If anyone can supply more information on the building layout, I will try to make a floor plan.  We know from records of W. P. Sims that the school was heated with coal and we think individual stoves;  and the lighting was acetylene gas from a carbide generator.  The same source shows that concrete walks were added in 1914.

We have two good pictures of the building and three of  classes in front of it (est. dates of 1913, 1917, and 1924). Also three  Xerox black and white copies of pictures dated 1922, 1923 and 1924.  If anyone has more pictorial evidence I would like to make arrangements for obtaining copies for the archives and perhaps eventual inclusion in a publication.  Elizabeth Heien (Class of 52)  provided me an opportunity to copy two of her mother's  pictures showing Ruby Heien's 1917 8'th grade class, and a class that she was teaching at Con. 8 in 1923-1924.  The pictures available relating to the building with additional comments can be viewed in the following link.

View pictures of  The first Con. 8 building & One of The Countryside from the Roof.

The School Land:  Ruby Heien's manuscript ⁵ says that Hermann Baden gave the land for the school in 1911.  This puzzled me. The 1913 plat of the area shows that  Hermann was the lessee for that quarter of school land.   It seemed impossible that he could give or sell land he didn't own.   Finally with the aid of Patti Johnson in the Kiowa County Clerks office, the mystery was resolved.  What was executed in 1911, was a contract agreement between Hermann Baden and the Board of Directors  of  Consolidated School District No. 2 in Swanson County. (George Penn, Director, Tom Locke, Treasurer, and R. M. Briggs, Clerk.) which provided for immediate occupancy and eventual title.   The contract agreement was that (in return for consideration described later) Baden or the "then owners" would provide without cost a warranty deed for the land to the District at the time that Baden or the "then owners" obtained title from the Oklahoma Land Commission . The contract was dated July 31, 1911 which was just about the last day in the short life of Swanson County, Oklahoma.  It acknowledged a payment of one dollar already made and  provided for a payment of the balance $99.00 on November 1, 1911.   The land was described as 5.01 acres on the northwest corner of the NW quarter of Sec. 33, Twp. 4N, Range 18 W,  525 feet east-west, and 420 feet north-south exclusive of the public road on the north and west.

Hermann Baden did acquire title to the quarter in 1922, but there is no mention of the contract in the County records until 1928.  By that time the land had been sold and resold several times. It is finally entered in the County Register on Jan. 10, 1928, apparently in connection with the release of a mortgage on the farm executed by a Mr. Patterson and his wife.   The contract was finally fulfilled Nov. 9, 1938 with  R. E. and Irene Meyers who were owners at that time.  The Meyers duly provided a quit claim deed for said tract in favor of the school district.  After 27 years, the District owned the land.  In just another 20 years, the school district was annexed to Roosevelt, and the land sold to E. R. and Mary Fowler who then owned the remainder of the quarter.  Then in the year 1999, Eric Jackson and his wife transferred title for approximately one acre on the northwest corner to the Con. 8 Memorial Committee, for the purpose of  a commemorative monument. Eric is the grandson of E. R. and Mary Fowler and the son of  Ruth L. and Aaron Jackson, '39 and '38 Con. 8 graduates.

I had speculated that the impetus for obtaining a deed in November 1938, was probably the ongoing negotiations for the WPA project to build the new class room on the southeast, room 8 in the drawing of the following section .  This speculation has risen to the level of documented fact. The November 11, 1938 Student Review reports that the proposal for the WPA project had been approved by the President noting that  "the final obstacle being a deed for the land which was obtained last week."  It is also possible that the registration of the contract in 1928 was motivated by the bond issue made that year for building the brick building.

For these years all that is available are occasional documents that have been identified and for some of which the year is  not totally certain.   One source of information has been the scattered school enumeration reports preserved in the County Clerks office. For Con. 8, I found reports for the following years,  taken always in January:   1916, 1917,  1919, and 1922 through 1957. These are excellent for identification of school-age persons living in the community, but tell nothing about the school staff.  It appears that until 1950, the enumeration was done by the Clerk of the school board so I have assumed that in the years before this when  there is a single enumerator, that person is the clerk of the school board, and if more enumerators they are school board members.   In addition,  Zoe (Sims) McMillin provided copies of a ledger kept by her grandfather, W. P. Sims, begun October 1914 containing enumeration data,  a list of voters, tally marks for a vote on a tax levy, and school budget information.  This material is associated with the 1914-15 school year.

Direct Links to Pictures of several classes in the 1911-1929 period  are displayed prominently in the year to which they are believed to pertain.

1911-1912:   The superintendent is Van Berkelo who teaches grades 6, 7 and 8.  Miss Mabel Ethridge taught grades 3, 4 and 5; and Miss Etta Buel taught the first and second grades.

School Board: : George F. Penn, member; T. B. (Tom) Locke, chairman, R. M. (Bob) Briggs, clerk.

The district was approved in August 1911 and the contract for the land concluded. It is assumed that building began in August if not earlier.   It was normal for school years to start in October or even later.  The building nearly finished burned down before it was used.  That was probably October.  We have a memoir by one student written sixty years later in which he recalls beginning school in November 1911 riding a wagon about 4 miles and having class in a room with cloth partitions.  That is thought to be the Olive Branch school building.  It was remembered by one person that there was no school at Con. 8 that year, but the recorded name of the superintendent and other memories indicate that it functioned this year.  It is remembered that the replacement building was finished in March ⁵ .   Was it in 1912 or 1913?.   It appears that the first building was build in no more than three months, and the foundation could no doubt be used again, so that two months construction time seems adequate. However one account refers to delays in processing the insurance claim, but more than a year seems unlikely.
1912-1913:   According to Balyeat the principal was A. J. Stoops who would have taught the upper 3 grades, the teachers of the lower grades this year were probably still Miss Ethridge and Miss Buel.
1913-1914: Superintendent or Principal  Miss Theodosia Parsons who probably taught the upper classes formerly taught by Mr. Van Burkelo.  We assume that Miss Mable Ethridge and Miss Buel continued  assignments. and Ruby Heien ⁵ says this is the year that a fourth teacher Miss Zona Stogsdill was added, and that several students finished the eighth grade  In most written material about the early schools Miss Parson's name is given as Dona.  One exception is Ruby Heien ⁵ who gives her name as Dosa, which matches the expectations from the Thodosia as her name is  given in the 1910 census.  From that census we learn  that Miss Parson is living in Mountain View with her brother and is a 33 year old teacher.  Ruby says she was from Lonewolf, but that may have been her last teaching position before coming to Con. 8.
Classes in about 1913      

1914-15:   Teachers:    A. J. Stoops, Superintendent and teaching 6,7&8  levels.  It is probable that both Miss Buel and Miss  Mable Ethridge were also teaching one with grades 1&2 and another with 3,4&5,

School Board:  George F. Penn;  W. P. Sims, Clerk, and..............?

W. P. Sims' record book contains a list of expenditures for the year which may give a picture of the way the school was operated in the early years.  Each wagon is numbered and a name at the top of the list of the drivers may be the coordinator for the assurance of drivers or the owner of the team used to pull the wagon.  I think the district owned the wagons.

Wagon Drivers:  #4( name Riley written at top of list) G. A. Lacey, W. J. Lollar, W. A. Webster, Claude E. Stogsdill, H....Hien?, George F. Penn,  C. M. McClure (Carl), V. A. Duke, G. W. Ragon?   #3( name Vestal at top) George F. Penn, J. P. Roper, V. A. Duke, #2 (name Kovar at top) Henry Hien, J. S. Kovar, G. W. Ragon, #1 (name Austin at top) W. A. Webster, G. A. Ashley, F. J. Kovar, George F. Penn, .G. W Ragon.    #5 (name Mann at top) W. A. Webster, George F. Penn, C. E. Moore.

Unique Names from the driver list:
G. A. Lacey, W. J. Lollar, W. A. Webster, Claude E. Stogsdill, H. Hien, George F. Penn,  G. W. Ragon, V. A. Duke, J.P. Roper, G. A. Ashley, C. M. (Carl) McClure, F. J. Kovar, C. E. Moore.    I am rather certain that H. Hien and Henry Hien  are in fact Henry Heien, brother of Carl Heien  although the H. Hien could be Hermann Heien ,  Carl and Henry's father. G. A. Ashley is Gains Ashley brother-in-law of Carl McClure; and V. A. Duke was know in the community as Alton Duke, brother of Pearl Duke who married Burl Brewer; and who will be listed later as a School Board member, and further is the father or Uncle of the many Dukes who graduated from Con. 8 in the 1930's.
1915-1916:  Superintendent A. L. Stoops
For this school year there is a school enumberation that was turned into the County Superintendents Office.  These enumerations were taken in January, and probably every year after this.  They list the parent or guardian of each person who will be six years old or older and less than twenty one at some time during the year; probably by the end of the year for some years and perhaps later before sometime in the Fall.   The total enumberation for Con. 8 this year was 234; but there are 239 names on the list because five persons who would be over 21 by the end of the year were listed and then marked out. This year, the enumerator, W. P. Sims gave the section number on which each family lived.  Most of these names will check with those shown as owners or leasees on the township maps for the area presented in the Map Seminar.   However there will be considerable difference because some owners did not have children of school age, and others did who were not land owners.
  See the list of  Children and one of their parents or guardians,  January 1916, Con. 8.
1916-1917:  Superintendent A. L. Stoops  
1917-1918:  Superintendent S. A. Mitchell
1918-1919:  Superintendent  J. F. Shortt  (aka James Short)
1919-1920: Teachers:    The  Balyeat report gives the superintendent as J. F. Shortt.   The 1920 census for Otter Creek township gives some additional hints about the teachers:     The census list James Short, 35, and wife Stella Short, 34, who are teachers in a public school.   Their neighbors in the census suggest they may be living on the Con. 8 School site.   James Short of the census is the J. F. Shortt of the superintendent list.    Also Velma Sims the 19 year old daughter of W. P. Sims   list occupation teacher in a public school.   She probably teaches at Con. 8 in 1919-1920 and certainly did at intervals over the next thirty years or so, as she and her husband Mark McFarland were part of the Con. 8 picture throughout its nearly fifty years of life.   Miss Bessie Fiedler, 20, living with her parents very near the Con. 8 school is a teacher.   These four would probably make a full complement of teachers for Con. 8 that year.   There are two other teachers living near the correction line.   Miss Mannie Murrell, 23, lives with her parents and is a teacher.   Miss Ellen Gunn, 23, and a teacher   lives with her uncle James Gunn.   Also T. O. Stringer is a teacher who is married and living with his father-in-law in the area of   Frog Pond.     Except for the Shortt family, any of these other teachers may have taught at other nearby schools, Gladson, Shiloh, Koonkazachey, Frog Pond, Mullins or others, especially when they are recorded as living with family.
 
School Board:   W. P. Sims, Clerk; George F. Penn, and .......?

1920-21:  Superintendent:  Mr.  J. W. Stewart has replaced Mr. Biffle.
1921-1922:  Superintendent is J. W. Stewart.  From a photograph of the 5th and 6th that year, we know the teacher is Anna Bowman.   Link to picture and relevant notes are listed in the1922-1923 year which follows.
1922-1923:  Superintendent is J. W. Stewart.  A photograph of the 5th and 6th  reveals that the teacher that year is Mr. Weight.  View class picture for this and the preceding year. Fifth and Sixth in 1921-22 and 1922-1923

1923-1924:  Superintendent is J. W. Stewart.  Photographs of two  classesare aavailablefor that year.  One of the 7th and 8th gives the teachers name as Mrs. Bozeman.   For another class believed  likely be grades 3 through 5, the teacher is Ruby (Burton) Heien,  mother of Con. 8 graduates Betty June (1942) and Elizabeth (1952).  Click the following link to view picture and discussion of the identifications for the two pictures: Several Grades 1923-24
1924-1925:  Superintendent is J. W. Stewart.
1925-1926:  Superintendent is  now Mr. J. T. Biffle.
1926-1927:  Superintendent is J. T. Biffle.
1927-1928:  Superintendent is J. T. Biffle.
1928-1929:  Superintendent is J. T. Biffle.
1926-1927:  Superintendent is J. T. Biffle.
1927-1928:   Superintendent is J. T. Biffle.
We could guess some of the teachers this year; but the only documentary evidence for the year which I have found  is a final year report by the Superintendent.  It  is a form report apparently required by the County Superintendent's Office.  No teachers are listed, but  financial data and other facts give considerable insight into this last year before the new brick building  which must have been planned during this year.

The School after 1929 (in the New Building)

New Building 1929 :    The decisions involving these new developments were made in 1928.  No doubt a great deal of planning and commitment occurred in 1927  Sometime before the summer of 1928 and one would assume in the late winter, there must have been an election to decide on the bond issue for the new building, as the bonds were issued  that year.  Also this was the year that Union School #10 disbanded with Lick Skillet and Mullins annexed to Mt. Park.    Pauline (Dempsey) Manning recalls that her first classes at Con. 8 in the Fall of 1929 were in the new brick building which was finished.  Joy Shockley whose birth day is October 29, 1922  started school two times; first in 1928 and again in 1929 when she was almost seven.  After her first start, the minimum age was revised upward (arising, perhaps, from  negotiations of State Aid questions relative to the planned school expansion or it may have been because of space problems arising from the construction) ;  so she had to quit and start again next year.  She remembers a lot of messy temporary arrangements during her abbreviated participation in the 1928-29 school year involving the old building and new construction.  Not to be forestalled, Joy completed work for her diploma in 11 years graduating in 1940.   Wilma (Duke) Stout remembers a year when classes were held in the gymnasium while work was done on the school building.  She also remembers her father Luther Duke working on the building of the gymnasium.   Luther was the "ginner" at the Con. 8 Gin and had a wide range of special skills, carpentry, mechanical, electrical, etc.   Wilma would have been in the fifth grade in 1928-29.

In a brief  history of  Con. 8  circulated at the 1979 Con. 8 reunion,  Velma McFarland remembered that a gymnasium was built before the brick building through volunteer labor, and that classes were held in the gymnasium while the new classrooms were being built.  The other memories above add some detail. The one big question remaining is "What happened to the old two-story frame building?".   I think that it was dismantled to provide materials for the gymnasium and perhaps some other small buildings including probably additional teacherage space. The frame building probably sat over the area of the Auditorium of the new building,  and would have had to been removed to permit construction of the brick building.   I have however little hard evidence for this.

The diagram at the right shows the floor plan of the building with numbers which I use to keep a  clear record of how the space was utilized.   The room 8 on southeast was added in the spring of 1939.  Until the 1937-38 school year, the 4 rooms on west with four teachers were used for grades 1-7,  leaving 3 rooms on the east with three teachers for high school and 8th grade.  It would appear that the four grade teachers and four rooms would be a perfect match for grades 1 to 8 at two grades per room;  but all these early years for which there is information indicates that the eighth grade was integrated with . high school  In that time, either the first grade was a single group in room 1 or one of the larger grade groups was split between two rooms producing one and a half grades in each..  Three examples are known from the later years.   In 34-35,  the fourth grade was split between two rooms so that 2 rooms housed three grades.  In the following two years the first grade had room 1 to itself.  

For 1937-38, the increased enrollment finally allowed the addition of another grade school school teacher, but space was tight. The compromise arrangement relieved the overcrowding in the grades and reduced the load on the high school faculty, but constricted the high school space.   Mrs. DeWees had the first grade alone, The large 3rd grade of that year was split with half being taught in room 2   with the 2nd, and half in room 3 with the 4th. Grades 7&8 were taught in room 7 by Mr. Louis . Ethridge (Really this teacher  is "Bill" husband of Blanche but he is referred to as Louis, or  Louis I., or just Mr. and never as "Bill"  in the Student Review .  On the other hand, Mrs. Ethridge is referred to at least once as Mrs."Bill" .) Ethridge This use of  room 7 forced extensive use of the auditorium, A , for high school classes. The new grade school teacher was Miss Small who had grades 5&6 in room 4 . She is remembered fondly by many old students as a petite red-head who roomed her first year in the home of Opal and  Lee Speights. She taught all of her students music and organized student choir groups. A similar arrangement was continued in 1939,  with the large fifth grade split, half with the fourth and half with the sixth in room 3 and 4.

Finally by fall of 1939, room 8 was completed by the WPA and immediately put to use as the home room for Mr. Ethridge's 7&8 grades. The high school now had three full time teachers and three rooms. The first grade had its own  room, and the fifth grade was split between rooms 3 & 4.   The use of five rooms for grades continued the next year, with the first grade and sixth grade  having rooms 1 and 4 with a single grade group. This arrangement continued until 1941-42 when the first and second were combined again and Mr. Ethridge's 7&8 moved into room 4 and each of the west rooms had two grade groups. (See year 41-42 for some remaining puzzles about this change).   The next year, the old plan of the early thirties was returned to with the 8'th grade treated as part of the high school; but now the five upper classes had four teachers and 4 rooms available. Mrs. Kennemer who had taught first grade for  for the previous two years, was the new high school teacher offering home economics perhaps for the first time. Grades 1 to 7 were taught again by four teachers in four rooms. This basic arrangement continued for perhaps as many as  ten years, and generally permitted the beginners to have a room and teacher of their own, but there were exceptions.

The Dressing room D and other room off stage L , were available for various uses. L was used as a Library in the forties. I have found in the Student Review for Sept. 4, 1942 that the new Library had just been completed.  Apparently prior to this that area was associated with the basement (entry way?) and the Library was in a part of Rm. 5.  I also remember it being used as an offstage area during plays.  At that time, the former Library space was converted into an office for the Superintendent, just off the hallway to the front entrance.    D was used as a resource room for the Agriculture classes in 1945-46.  More detail is available  in some of the year by year summaries.

The basement use is a bit of a mystery to me.  It was used as storage in the forties, but it often had water in it.  I can remember a year when the dried fruit provided to the school under the Agriculture Department's Excess Commodities operation was stored there along with unused furniture. There was also a coal bin in the basement filled by a chute opening on the south side of the building. .  It seems probable to me that this basement which was only under the area of the Auditorium might have been the original one in the old building or at least the same excavation.

Other facts: Electricity came in the  spring of '39.  Trees along the road were planted in '36 but most died and were replanted in '39..  Some additional concrete Walks around building were also added in '39.   The exterior Lunch Room added on east side in 1948 or 1949?.  In 1947 there was a lunch room for first time using part of Room #1.   Some of these dates and the ones of greatest certainty are taken from stories in issues of the Student Review for 1937-43.  Others are fairly good guesses based on memories related to me, my own memories, and especially a careful study of the photographs of the building on the collages of the high school graduating classes. The evaluation of these sources is sketched on the page The Building Through The Years   and will be discussed in more detail in a document called "The Brick Building" that may be finished someday
Click Here!!! To view a sketch of the building and grounds 1929-57 .

Year by Year Summaries

1929-1930:  H.S. Grad:    None

H.S. Staff & subj.: J. T. Biffle--Supt., Mr. Robert L. Atchinson,  Mr. Stinnet ? (He may have taught higher grades instead of 6&7 shown also here).
Grade school Staff:   It is probable that the 8th grade was combined with high school and the five upper grades had three teachers based in the 3 east rooms and the first seven  grades had four teachers in the four west rooms with the first grade taught alone.   1 Miss  Mabel M Mannen who later became Mrs. Wilks, 2&3? Mrs Robert L. (Orina) Atchinson?, 4&5  Mrs. Winnie Battloup Probably   in Rm. 3; 6&7--Mr. Stinnet ?,  in Rm. 4.
Some of this information is extracted from the 1930 Census:  It appears that four teachers are living essentially on the school Corner, probably in the teacherages.   Mr. Biffle, 24 years old and his family and another teacher, Biffle's sister-in-law, Winnie Battloup(spelling of surname not clear), 24 years is listed in the same dwelling. An adjacently numbered household is comprised of two teachers,  Robert T. Atchinson, 22, and his wife Orina, 24.  Those who remembered or made notes sometimes gave the name as Mr. and Mrs Atkinson which spelling may appear on other pages.  The first names are from the census.    Also in an adjacent household, a widower, Mr. Burdick, age 68, is a janitor by occupation. Dorothy Estoll Shelton remembers him from a few years latter  and also and also whittling in his moments off duty.  I think he must have still been there whittling and janitoring in 1935 when I began school.  I don't remember his name but do remember the janitor sometimes giving away products of his pastime with wood and knife.  In particular a rather intricate puzzle which if assembled properly made a cube about 2 inches on a side, and this one was stained a blue or purple perhaps with laundry bluing or shoe polish.

The  Mr. Atchinson later taught high school  (see 1932-33) and probably did so this year.  Miss Mannen was remembered by Eskil Holt as her first grade teacher for this year.  Mrs. Orina Atchinson probably taught grades 2 and 3; but is remembered as teaching the first grade in the next year after Mr. Biffle had left.  Miss Battloup may have taught another grade room.   This leaves only need for only one additional  teacher.  If Shiloh operated this year, then Miss Stella Fraley would have been the teacher there instead of Con. 8.  The seventh teacher is probably Mr. John H. Lomax.  In January 1930, he is 23 and living in neighborhood of Russell Shockley and Winford Bock.  According to an article in Vol. III of PKC (p. 106) by his sister Vera Roberts, he graduated from Lonewolf  high school and then taught at Con. 8 for two years.

Janitor:  Edward E. Burdick
School board:    John H. Bock (father of Winford Bock) President,  Burris H. Haynie, Clerk (replacing L. G. McNutt in January but then replaced by C. H. Heien in May),  Charles R. Smith , member.
Bock is the father of Winford, Haynie is father of the many Haynies attending Con. 8 in the thirties including Melba, Lorene and Margaret all Con. 8 graduates , Charles R. Smith is the father of Mattie Thelma and Ivolee 1933 and 1938 Con. 8 graduates   
Bus Drivers:

There was a student newspaper during part of this year , a precursor of the Student Review  called the Blue Bonnet.   I learned about this from the 1941 Student Review  in which   one edition of 1930 is described.  The staff is listed as follows:

• Mr. Dewey Beeson was appointed  County Superintendent to replace Mr. Voyle Scurlock who had served from 1925 and left this year to join the State Department of Education.  In the following years, Mr. Beeson was elected to 4 two-year terms serving until July 1939.  The County Superintendent was very important as Con. 8 because of its size was a dependent school, and County Examinations had to be passed for eighth grade diplomas. His office also provided enrichments of the curricula with various special programs and services.  His office was even more importantly involved in aid for the  one and two-room schools.  Hobart of course was an independent school as were all of the larger schools.

1930-1931: H.S. Grad: None.  I think some type of accreditation increment was obtained during this year, but it was apparently not for full 4-year high school as the graduates next year( spring of 1932) only received 12-year certificates and apparently had to take an examination to receive a diploma or be admitted to a state college.

H.S. Staff & subj.: Hobson Burris--Supt.,  Mr. Atchley?,  Miss Mannen became Mrs. Wilks somewhere in this period and also began teaching "Expression" which was written and oral use of the English-American language.  It appears that she taught this at several  levels including high school.

Grade school Staff:    1 -Mrs. Atchley in Rm. 1; 2&3   ?? in Rm. 2;  4&5? Stella Fraley in Rm. 3,       6&7   Stinnet in Rm. 4   ( Lea Bristow is probably before this)  This conflicts with Dorothy E.'s memory of first grade with  Mrs. DeWees but other data implies Mrs. DeWees not here yet.

Janitor:  Edward E. Burdick
School board:  John H. Bock, President; Carl Heien, Clerk; Charles R. Smith, member.
Bus Drivers:

1931-1932: H.S. Grad: Probably a 12 grade certificate instead of diploma awarded this year ? Oscar J. Terry (Son of Louis Terry), Melba Haynie, Oscar Terry (son of John Terry and cousin to Oscar J.)

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8:

H.S. Staff & subj.: C. L. DeWees--Supt., , Mabel Wilks?, Charley Graves, ?)

Grade school Staff:    1 Mrs. Atchley ?in Rm 1,  .2&3 - Mrs. DeWees in Rm. 2,     4&5  Stella Fraley in Rm. 3 ,   6&7 Stinnet in Rm. 4

Janitor:  Edward E. Burdick?
School board:  Carl Heien, Warren Dempsey, .....
Bus Drivers:

• This is was the first year for Mr. and Mrs. DeWees.  According to a 1937 Student Review editorial, the high school had only been approved by the State for 8 or nine credits when he arrived.  I think that was the number for the previous year, and more were possible this year.  I think 16 were already required for a diploma.  The major accreditation barrier was sufficient teachers qualified in the high school subjects. I understand that the three students above did get 12 year certificates. It probably means that they were able to complete 16 units of work; but it was not all accredited, and thus an examination was required  for award of a diploma.

1932-1933: H.S. Grad: Houston Duke, Helen Jones, George Dempsey, Shirley Murrell, Alden Henderson, Mattie Thelma Smith, Clyde McDowell, Leonard Cleal, Cecil Hawkins, Eva Mae Hutchinson, Hubert Jones  View Graduation Pictures

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8:

H.S. Staff & subj.: C. L. DeWees--Supt., Roy Williams was basketball Coach,  Mr. Atchinson.  (based on picture of high school in spring 1933 see more below) 

Grade school Staff:      1 Mrs. Atchley? Rm.;  2&3--Mrs. DeWees Rm. 2;  4&5----Miss Stella Fraley Rm. 3,  6&7 Mr. Stinnet ? in Rm. 4 --- Mrs. DeWees assignment to 2nd and third and Mrs. Atchley to the first is based on Bernice  (Dempsey)'s  recall.

Janitor:  Edward E. Burdick?

School board:  Warren P. Dempsey, President; Carl Heien, Clerk; Charles R. Smith, member.

Bus Drivers:  #4 Mr. York, Bud Smith, Leon Messick all drove in the 29-36 period.  #2 Mark McFarland most years in 29-36 period

• This was the first graduating high school class.
• George Dempsey remembered that Roy Williams was the boys basketball coach this year.  A photo of Cooperton students for the year 1926-27 shows Roy Williams and also Willard Smith (a 1943-44 Con. 8 teacher).  The caption states that Willard Smith  was the first Cooperton High school graduate in 1928.  It seems from this information the earliest Roy could have graduated from high school is 1929,  and it is probable that this is Roy's first year teaching.
• Recently Wilma (Duke) Stout has found a picture of the entire high school student body and teachers taken on "Senior Day".  The teachers shown are DeWees, Williams and Atchinson as I have listed above.  The people shown in the picture agrees with the assumption that grade 8 was with the ..high school   A link to the picture page is given in the next section as it is the only source of near contemporary pictures for some of the 1934 graduates.

1933-1934: H.S. Grad: (picture not made but Pauline (Dempsey) Manning has supplied a complete list from memory)  
Pauline Dempsey, Ethel Thornton, Mabel Sockwell, Leatrice Crouch, Burl Fowler, Edward Wynns, Loyd Hutchinson, Ralph Hawkins, Julius Lowell.  
The above list of graduates agrees with one given in the 1937-38 Student Review in a series on past graduates

There is a picture of the entire high school taken in May 1933.  All nine of the graduates are identified in that picture   and all of the 56 people shown have been identified as of  02/14/03 . Click here

Now We Have A Collage to be mounted with the others!!  Click here to view a preliminary version and the story behind it .

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8:  

H.S. Staff & subj.: C. L. DeWees--Supt.,  Math and Science( Geometry  and General Science for Sophomores); Roy Williams --Coach, OK History and Civics;  Mabel Wilks , English; Mr. Graves ?

Grade school Staff: 1&2- probably Mrs. DeWees in Rm. 1,   3&4: Miss. Stella Fraley in Rm, 2;   5 and maybe part of 4th---Isabelle Edmundson Rm. 3,  6&7 could be Stinnet or Alexander

Janitor:
School board   Warren P. Dempsey, President; Carl Heien, Clerk; Charles R. Smith?, member.
Bus Drivers:  H. A. "Slim" Gilmore #3 (step-father of Lucille Green, class of  '39),  Leon Messick #4?, Mark McFarland #2?

• Pauline Manning has told me that Roy Williams was their basketball coach this year--Also Wilma (Duke)  Stout affirmed this commenting that he (Williams) was so good looking it was hard for the girls to concentrate on basketball..
• And Now there is a picture of the 3rd and 4th grade taken during this school year.
  

1934-1935: H.S. Grad: Lorene Haynie, Alene Estoll, Lucille Allred, Jack Miller, Rex Burton, Gaylon York, James Sockwell, Allie Henderson, DeLorn Duke.  View Graduation Pictures
Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8:

H.S. Staff & subj.: Clarence L. DeWees--Supt., Henry Ayres, Roy Williams, Charley Graves?

Grade school Staff:   1&2 -- Mrs. DeWees, Rm. 1;3&4-- Miss. Fraley in Rm. 2;  5 & perhaps part of 4 -Miss Bertha Jackson in Rm. 3. Rm. 3; 6&7--Joe Alexander, Rm. 4.  View Group Pictures of Some Grades.

Janitor:
School board:  G. W. Brown (George W. Brown Jr., father of DeVern & Billy), President; C. H. Heien, Clerk; Other member Ben Hutchinson or Charles R. Smith??
Bus Drivers: H. A. "Slim" Gilmore #1, Mark McFarland #2?
 

• This was Mr. Ayres' first year at Con. 8.  LaNell (DeWees) Frick remembers that one year Mr. Williams and  Mr. Ayres shared a room in the main teacherage.  It seems clear that this would be only year both were there.  The year of Mr. Ayres arrival was gotten from a story in the April 1938 Student Review discussing teacher contracts for fall 1938, which says that "Mr. Ayres has been here four years, Mrs. Ethridge and Mr. and Mrs. Woods three year".  LaNell's recollection is not the only evidence of Mr. Williams' presence this year.  Wilma (Duke) Stout remembers that Mr. Williams was the girls coach this year;  and thinks he may have been the boys coach again as well which means that Mr. Ayres would not have coached either senior team this year.
• Wilma also remembers that Mr. Alexander and Mr. Graves were friends and shared an apartment in the teacherage one year.
• Class pictures show that Mrs. DeWees had both grades 1&2, and Mr. Alexander had grades 6&7.  The presence of Miss Fraley and Miss Jackson was remembered by Dorothy (Estoll) Shelton who was in the 5th this year and also thinks that Miss Jackson may have each had some of the 4th grade. The grades taught by Mrs. DeWees and Mr. Alexander were deduced from the students identified in the group pictures, so click on the link to check View Group Pictures of Some Grades.

1935-1936: H.S. Grad: Edwin Duke, Dorothy Stockton, Wilma Duke, Loyd Dempsey, Earlene Stockton, Saphrona White, Travis Crouch, Margeret Haynie, Blanche Jackson, Willis Ellis.  View Graduation Pictures

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8:

H.S. Staff: C. L. DeWees--Supt., Math..., Henry Ayres--Principal, Coach, English, Virgil Woods--History and other subjects

Grade school staff: 1 -- Mrs. DeWees, Rm. 1;  2&3 --Mrs. Ethridge, Rm. 2, 4&5 -- Mrs. Woods,  Rm. 3, 6& 7-Mr.Joe Alexander, Rm. 4.   8th grade was part of high school this year.  View Group Pictures of Some Grades.
Janitor:  Mr. Burdick
School board:  G. W. Brown, President  Carl Heien, Clerk.; Other member Ben Hutchinson or Charles R. Smith??
Bus Drivers:  Carl McClure #1,  Mark McFarland #2?, Alton Duke ? #3?
 

• This was the first year at Con. 8 for Mr. Woods,  Mrs. Woods, and Mrs. Blanche Ethridge.  It appears that Mr. Woods replaced Mr. Williams who had married Goldie ......? also a teacher for which there was no open position at Con. 8 that year.  It has been mentioned that he may have taken a position at Altus.  Wilma (Duke) Stout remembered that Mr. Ayres coached both the Boys and the Girls basketball teams this year.
• Major improvements were gotten underway this year.  A renovation of the Gym was gotten underway and preparations made for getting new school buses.  Landscaping improvements were undertaken.  The Spring 1936 photograph of the school shows the Gym already with a new paint job and also excavations made for the planting of trees although no trees are visible.

1936-1937: H.S. Grad: Lillith Dempsey, Wayne Bock, Jack Hutchinson, Ruth Bradley.  View Graduation Pictures

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8:

H.S. Staff & subj.: Clarence L. DeWees--Math (Rm. 5?) ,Virgil E. Woods--Girls Coach?&? Rm.7?, Henry Ayres---Principal Boys Coach & English Rm. 6.?

Grade school Staff: 1--Mrs. DeWees Rm. 1, 2&3-- Mrs. Ethridge, Rm. 2, 4&5-- Mrs. Woods Rm. 3, 6& 7--Mr. Ethridge Rm. 4. 8th grade with was again with high school.   View Group Pictures of Some Grades.

Janitor:  Mr. Burdick ?  He is remembered by some as "whittling a lot".  I can remember wooden puzzles that he made. Wooden parts with notches which if solved assembled into a cube.
School board:  George Brown, President, R. V. Shockley, Clerk,  Ben Hutchinson, member.
Bus Drivers: H. A. "Slim" Gilmore, #1,
 

• This was Mr. Ethridge's first year at Con. 8.  He replaced Mr. Alexander.
• The new buses were available for the start of school.  These were new trucks and had all metal bodies.  They replaced the old trucks which were outfitted with wooden bodies that were very drafty and cold on winter days.  I think I remember the body painted blue at least on #2 or #3 bus which I think Alton Duke drove in 1935-36.  These new metal bodies were to serve for eleven years although the chassis' and motors would be replaced and the bodies refurbished in 1940.
• The new trees, Chinese elm,  were planted either in late spring or fall of 1936.  Sixteen of these trees died and were replaced in 1939.

Also in the spring and fall of 1936 a ceiling was put in the Gym which had previously been open. This eliminated the hazards from birds that roosted in the open loft before and would have made the 32 volt lights more effective in lighting the gym.

1937-1938: H.S. Grad: Aaron Jackson, Martin Duke, Ivolee Smith, Jessie Fowler, Lucille Lane, Eskil Holt.
                                                                             View Graduation Pictures
Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8:

H.S. Staff & subj.: Clarence L. DeWees--Math (Rm. 5?) ,Virgil E. Woods--Girls Coach? &? Rm. 7?; Henry Ayres---Principal, Boys Coach & English Rm. 6.?  Since grades 7&8 used one of these rooms, some high school classes were in the auditorium.

Grade school Staff: 1--Mrs. DeWees Rm. 1;  2nd & half of 3rd-- Mrs. Ethridge Rm. 2, half of 3rd & 4th-- Mrs. Woods Rm. 3,5&6--Miss Arlene Small, Rm. 4, 7&8--Mr. , Ethridge Rm. 7.
Janitor:  Marvin "Shorty" Sparks
School board: George Brown, President or Director; R. V. Shockley, Clerk; Ben Hutchinson, Member
Bus Drivers:  H. A. Gilmore, #1; Howard Wallis, #2 (also the bus mechanic); W. L. Bock, #3, Ned Dempsey, #4.

• This was the best budget year to date for Con. 8,  a total of $13, 986.94 of which  $4175.30 came from local taxes, the rest being State Aid funds.
• A new teacher position was gained this year, and was  filled by Miss Small who taught grades 5&6.  This allowed the large third grade to be divided, half with the second and half with the fourth.  Grades 7&8 have their own room formerly used by the high school.   The high school students have three full time teachers, but have to make  use of the auditorium for class space.  There are now five grade and 3 high school teachers.
• This was the year that the Journalism Club was established and began publication of the Student Review printed with a new mimeograph machine just purchased by the school. More details will appear on the page The Student Review-a History.
• September:   All Con. 8 businesses (Both of them) change managers. Mr. H. B. (Slim) Gilmore has resumed operation of the "North Store" taking over from  DeLorne Duke (Con. 8 1935). who is moving to the Star Valley Community (Northwest of Mountain Park) where his wife the former Mattie Thelma Smith (Con. 8. 1933) was teaching school.  G. W. Brock has bought the "South Store"  formerly operated by Lois Hazelwood (older brother of Eudora) and his wife the former Willie Mae Snow.  The Hazelwoods moved to California where Lois has taken employment.
• At the beginning of basketball season, the the sports teams resumed the use of the old nickname "Pirates" dating back to at least 1923; but not used for the previous several years.  In subsequent issues of the Student Review versions of the "Pirate" logo appeared on mast heads and with sports stories.
• Boys basketball rules changed!  Now there will be center jumps only at the start of the game, start of the second half, and after double fouls.  There will be jumps at the nearest circle after "tie" balls as before. After a score, the team scored upon will put the ball in play from under the goal they defend instead of play being resumed with a center jump...
• Kerosene stoves replaced the coal stoves in the school rooms and a large kerosene storage tank was installed on concrete supports on the east side of the schoolhouse.  There was much appreciation expressed for the improved heating.  The two large coal stoves in the Gym and the one heating the Auditorium continued to be used.
• Sanitary fountains were provided by funds from the Helping-Hand Club. These used gravity feed from an elevated glass container so that the water "fountained up" in the center of a bowl.   The waste water was collected in tanks below, and probably used to water the new trees. These were indoors in the hallways and  replaced the old wooden kegs with pushbutton faucets kept on a wooden platform outside the school. A Student Review writer remarked that now the students could keep their shoes clean while soothing their thirst, and could use their notebook paper for themes rather than making paper cups.
• October 6:  Jackson county workers complete repairs to the Warren Bridge.  Two weeks later it was announced that the west end of the bridge was being extended so it would not wash out again.  For several years the old bridge had been washed out. The WPA did some of this work. It is the bridge which remained until Highway 19 was developed in the early 1960"s.
• November: An Electric Score Board was added to the Gymnasium financed by Ads on the wall around the scoreboard paid for by area businesses. Con. 8 Community firms with Ad's were  the Con. 8 Gin, Gillmore's store, Culvahouse's store, the Elk Creek store, and the Centerville Store.  I suppose that the board  like the lights used the 32-volt DC power that was brought to the Gym from the battery stack in the Bell house.  This was remarkable "high tech" .   I think I remember games in 1947, in which the score was still kept on a chalkboard at some gyms that we visited.
• December:  Mr. Gilmore closes the north store.  Mr. Clovis Haynie reopened the store the following April.
• February 3:  Superintendent DeWees and the School board begin investigating obtaining electric power in the community through the Rural Electrification Authority (REA).  In the following weeks there are many reports of progress and change in plans.  These reports continue into the next year and will be all summarized on another page The Arrival of the REA.
• March 27:  Mr. DeWees and school board discuss need for an additional class room and the possibility of WPA assistance. Two weeks later the school board approves an extra 5 mill levy in addition to the standard 10 mills to provide the materials for the new room as the WPA only supplies labor cost.
• April 28: Blueprints for the building addition are being prepared in Oklahoma City to be sent to Washington with a request for a WPA project.
• May: The Student Review wins second in the mimeographed division at Southwest Interscholastic Meet (SWIM).  Even more impressive was third place for that division in the state-wide contest at Norman.  In the latter competition all papers for first 30 weeks were reviewed and  first place went to Antlers Oklahoma (enrollment 1119) and second to Jenks Oklahoma (enrollment 1334).  Con. 8's enrollment was optimistically given as 220 this year with just 10 boys and 32 girls in high school! Quite an accomplishment..

1938-1939. H.S. Grad: Missouri Schrader, Geneva Dempsey, Lula Dee Scurlock, Lucille Green, Virginia Jones, Ruth L. Fowler. View Graduation Pictures

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8:
H.S. Staff & subj.: Clarence L. DeWees--Math (Rm. 5?) ,Virgil E. Woods--Girls Coach & Biology, Rm. 7? ,Henry Ayres--- Principal, Boys Coach & English Rm. 6.?    Since grades 7&8 used one of these rooms, some high school classes were in the auditorium.
Grade school Staff: 1--Mrs. DeWees (till January '39) Mrs. Huffman (19), Rm 1;  2&3-- Mrs. Ethridge (44 total), Rm 2;   4-- Mrs. Woods (34), Rm. 3;  5&6--Miss Arlene Small (34 total), Rm. 4;  7&8--Mr. Ethridge (28 total), Rm. 7,( used one of the high schoolrooms probably 7).

Janitor:  Marvin "Shorty" Sparks
School board:   V. A. Duke, Director or President (Houston Duke's father Alton); Russell Shockley, Clerk; Ben Hutchinson, Member.
Bus Drivers:   H. A. Gilmore, #1; Howard Wallis, #2 (also the bus mechanic); W. L. Bock, #3, Ned Dempsey, #4.
 

• September, Enrollment is 203,  150 in the grades, and in high school 40 girls and 13 boys!
• November: New girls basketball rules:  Two court divisions replaces the three court division.  Team is made up of three forwards and three guards in appropriate divisions. One of the forwards puts the ball in playroom the center circle.
• November 11, the WPA project for building a new class room approved after the School District obtained title to the land the previous week. Expected February 1939 completion date.
• January: Mrs. DeWees retired, after seven and one half  years of teaching at Con. 8.  Her replacement, Mrs. Huffman, was announced a few weeks later.   The timing may have been related to the upcoming birth of her son, Don who was born  in August 1939.
• February:  The brickwork on the new building was completed, but there were some delays experienced when the windows delivered on schedule were of the wrong size and had to be returned.
• April 14:  The 1916 Model Delco generator that supplied 32 volt DC for the school "died", and could not be resuscitated.  The Student Review writers speculated that the cause was "heartbreak" from the daily expectation of being replaced by the REA line already extending along the road to the west of the school.  The school "Open House" had already been delayed till "real electricity" arrived because the Delco could not supply sufficient power to light all the rooms.  Darkness will engulf the school and teacherages every night until the REA is able to supply service.
• May 2:  The WPA finishes work on the new class room.
• Tuesday,  May 10:  The REA line which had been completed for sometime was "powered up" at this time as the minimum of two subscribers (with house wiring complete) for each mile of line in the new addition had finally been achieved. Gaynelle Ellis remembers a special dispensation that may have allowed the electricity in her house to be turned on first. Her mother was hosting a wedding shower for Miss  Small.   Miss Small had already been rehired for the next term; but in fact she didn't return.  probably the marriage had some influence in the change of plans.
• May 18:  The long delayed Open House was held, in the full glare of 120V AC lights.

1939-1940: H.S. Grad: Oneita Crane, Wilton Hooser (Dickie), LuVerna Bailey, Oletta Newton, Wesley Wiley, Ruth Ann Sims, Joy Shockley, Eudora Hazelwood, Ruby Fowler, Hazel Fowler, Jack Stockton, Opal Reese. View Graduation Pictures

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8:

H.S. Staff & subj.: Clarence L. DeWees--Math (Rm. 5?); Virgil E. Woods--Girls Coach &? Rm. 7 ? , Henry Ayres--- Principal, Boys Coach & English ,Rm. 6.?

Grade school Staff:  Fall enrollments in ().    1--Mrs. Ester Huffman (21) , Rm. 1; 2&3--Mrs. Ethridge (32 both grades), Rm. 2, 4& one-half of 5th-- Mrs. Woods (15 in 4th, 15 of 5th) ,Rm. 3:  one-half of 5th &6--Miss or Mrs. Winters (14 in 5th, 10 in 6th), Rm. 4;  7&8--Mr. Ethridge (14 in each grade), Rm. 8.

Janitor:  Marvin "Shorty" Sparks
School board:  Carl McClure, Director; Russell Shockley, Clerk; Ben Hutchinson, Member --A. V. Duke moved to eastern Ok in summer and resigned in favor of Carl McClure.
Bus Drivers:  H. A. Gilmore, #1; Howard Wallis, #2 (also the bus mechanic); W. L. Bock, #3, Ned Dempsey, #4.

• Enrollment in September is reported as 193, 143 in grades and 51 in high school.  A few weeks later it is reported as 197.  Also it is said to compare with 189 last year.  However at a similar time last year the enrollment was reported as 203.  The numbers clearly fluctuated by 10 to 15 during a year.
• The Student Review  in a front page story on general progress reports "Four New Buses".  Another story elaborates that they are new chassis and motors, but the bodies bought in 1936 have been refurbished, with broken glass replaced and new seats.  It was probably not planned; but because of the war, these buses served until Fall of 1947.
• Charles Lattimer replaced Dewey Beeson as County Superintendent in July. Mr. Beeson. had served since 1929.
• Marvin Sparks and his wife Juanita opened the North Store which had been vacant for several months.  They served hot lunches at a counter  in thestore.  I remember that the cheese and macaroni was delicious, and much preferred to carrying a lunch bucket.  It cost a dime I think; but might have been a nickel.
• TYPEWRITERS: The first big item this year for the classes was the new typewriters (9 years later I think I remember there being six) which were used to offer typing at Con. 8 for the first time.   Nineteen students had pre enrolled in the spring and paid their lab fees.  The number of machines purchased was that required to service the number of students.  I wondered for a while, how the student review was produced the previous year.  There was probably only one typewriter in the whole school and it was in the office area.  I remember Mrs. Russell Shockley talking to several of the Helping-Hand Club members about typewriters at home as their daughters Joy and Carol were interested in Journalism.  The remark I remember "but they are as high as a cat's back!" does not indicate that any were bought just then .  There was at least one other typewriter in the community, in the Con. 8 Gin office.  More careful searching of the Student Reviews  reveal that Mr. Ayres probably did all the typing for the first two years of the paper including this year.
• JOURNALISM:  The second big news about classes was a half-credit in Journalism.  This brought to 18 the total number of Credits offered in the high school.   This was being done by three high schoolteachers!
• At this time the office area is a question.  It was probably a portion of room 5 ; but this room also accommodated the high school library in the area that later became the superintendents office.
• The availability of electric power no doubt was the cause of a change in the sounds that marked the change of class periods.   A buzzer system was installed, and the bell no longer used.   Progress is sometimes sad.  Another impact was no doubt the installation of a new score board in the Gym a few months later (November).  This one not only displayed the score with an array of electric bulbs, but in the center was a large clock showing the time remaining in each quarter, and when that time expired a loud buzzer sounded.  According to The Student Review, the cost was $175 paid by subscriptions from the same business groups that sponsored the 1937 scoreboard .  That source also indicates it replaces a board that was three years old, but it had only been there for two years according to their article of November of 1937.

1940-1941:  H. S. Grad :Clarence Baden, Bill McFarland, Wenona Denham, Thelma Hooser, Marie Jackson, Lula Margaret Brown, Elva Hooser, Kinley McClure, Aileen Bock. View Graduation Pictures

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8:

H.S. Staff & subj.: Clarence L. DeWees--Math (Rm. 5?) ; Virgil E. Woods--Gen. Science, Biology, Girls Coach Rm. 7?; Henry Ayres--- Boys Coach & English Rm. 6.?

Grade school Staff: Fall enrollments in ().  1--Mrs. Huffman till Oct. 25, then Mrs. Pearl Kennemer (12 students), Rm. 1; 2&3-- Mrs. Ethridge (17 in 2nd & 11 in 3rd), Rm. 2; 4&5-- Mrs. Woods (14 in each), Rm. 3;  6-- Mrs. Winters (26 students), Rm. 4; 7&8--Mr. Ethridge (17 in 7th & 10 in 8th) , Rm. 8.

Janitor:   Marvin "Shorty Sparks"
School board:    Carl McClure, Director ; R.V. Shockley, Clerk:; Ben Hutchinson, Member
Bus Drivers:  H. A. Gilmore and Allen Newton #1 (see note below), Joseph Manning #4
 

• Enrollment in September is reported as 190, a few less that last year. 51 are in high school and although the article says 129 in grades, it would have to be 139 to produce the stated total.
• Student Review 9/6/ 40 says the new "south"  teacherage with two rooms was complete and occupied by Mrs. Huffman, and Mrs. Winters.  It is also reported that all eight teachers now live in the three teacherages whereas previously one or two had to find accommodations in the community.   My memory is that Mr. and Mrs. Woods had the two-room "north" teacherage.  If so, the large teacherage accommodated Mr. and Mrs. DeWees with two children, and must have had two apartments; one used by Mr. and Mrs.  Ethridge and another occupied by Mr. Ayres.
• In January, "Slim" Gilmore left the community to enter the Implement business in Altus.  He made his last run with #1 bus and Mark McFarland substituted for him until his permanent replacement Allen Newton was hired in February.
• There is much more information from the Student paper not entered yet.

1941-1942:  H.S. Grad: Lester Newton, Bernice Dempsey, Jack Ward, Greama Brown, Carlyle Hutchinson, Lorena Denham, Marie McDowell, LaDonna Wallis, Joan Mesmer, Carol Shockley, Betty June Heien, Elmer Ankney, Jimmie Hutchinson.  View Graduation Pictures

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8:   Leo Jackson,......

H.S. Staff & subj.: Clarence L. DeWees--Math (Rm. 5?) ,Virgil E. Woods-- Boys Coach &? Rm. 7? ,Vivian Hefner--English?, Girls Coach?, Rm. 6.?, Was there Home Economics. in Rm. 8 this year? There seems to be extra space in high school and the grade school data is firm enough to be sure the room and probably another teacher  position were available for the upper four classes.
  View Group Pictures of Some Grades.

Grade school Staff: 1&2--Ms.  Pearl Kennemer , 3&4-- Mrs. Ethridge Rm. 2, 5&6-- Mrs. Woods Rm. 3, 7&8--Mr. , Rm. 4.  Mr. Ethridge. DeWees did some substitute teaching in the lower grades this year,  as she had done since her retirement from full time teaching in January of 1939.

The grade school teachers are well established by a complete set of  group photographs.   Maggie (Barns) Walker's wonderful scrapbook had one of the 7&8.   Elaine (McClure) Speer  came up with a copy of 1&2.  Edgar and Mary (Shockley) Ankney found one of the 5&6;  and Sylvia (Brewer) Terry has just come up with one of the 3&4..

I have a memory of room 8 being used for high school that year.  The four upper classes had all of east wing available that year and should have had a fourth teacher.   Yet I can get no evidence that  home economics was added that year.  The April '41 student review says all the '40-'41 teachers rehired (there were eight.).  In late May, Mr. Ayres resigned to join the Army Air Corps and was replaced for the Fall term by Vivian Hefner.      However Mrs. Winters did not teach in the grades this year, and only four teachers were used for grades 1-8 because for the first time since '36-37 one of the grades was not split.     If Mrs. Winters left there is clear evidence that it was a resignation after late May when the last Student Paper was published.   I have not excluded the possibility that Mrs. Winters may have done Home Economics or somehow taught in high school.  If home economics was offered, it would have been the first time and there is no hint of the  possibility in the '40-'41 student newspaper.  I have no papers for the next year; but in the two issues I have  for '42-'43 there is much coverage of Home Economics.  There is no indication that '42-'43 was the first year for Home Economics, and there is a reference to three levels of students in Home Economics, 8'th grade, first year, and second year.  This makes me think that the year before some students had taken home economics and were now second year.    The classes of 42-45 might be able to help on this one. The other possibility is that it was not possible to fill the vacancy and consequently cash was accumulated that was expended the following summer in the improvements mentioned in the following year for which surplus cash was used.

Janitor:   Eulis Clark
School board:   George McKinnis, Director, R. V. Shockley, Clerk; Ben Hutchinson, Member.
Bus Drivers:  Albert Baden #1

1942-1943: H.S. Grad: David "Bill" Jones, William "Buddy "Rogers (grad mid-term), Sherman Fowler, Herman Malone, Hazel McKinnis. View Graduation Pictures

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8:

H.S. Staff & subj.: Clarence L. DeWees--Math (Rm. 5?) ,Virgil E. Woods ---Coach & ? &8 'th grade. Math Rm. 7; Mrs. Viola Cunningham--English Rm. 6, Miss Pearl Kennemer ---Home Economics. & 8th grade subjects. Rm. 8

Grade school Staff: 1 -- Mrs. DeWees Rm. 1, 2&3--Mrs. Blanche Ethridge, Rm. 2, 4&5-- Mrs. Woods Rm. 3, 6&7--Mr.  Ethridge Rm. 4. Note that 8th grade merged with high school this (and following years?). 8th grade's English and Math was taught by H. S. teachers in subj. One teacher taught remainder of subj. to eighth grade and some  had additional high school assignments.   This year Miss Kennemer taught Home economics.
Mrs. Velma McFarland worked this year as a substitute teacher.
Janitor: Lester Ellis
School board: George McKinnis, Director;  R. V. Shockley , Clerk;  Roy Bolding, Member.
Bus Drivers:  Albert Baden #1, Mark McFarland #2 ?, Lester Ellis #3?, Joe Manning #4

1943-1944: H.S. Grad: R. E. Fowler, Leon Fred Messick, Alma McKinnis, Marilyn McClure, Wayne Reese, Kenneth McDowell, Byrd C.(?) Curtis, Bufford Lowell, Laverne Denham, Merl Tufford, J. D. Blish.  View Graduation Pictures

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8:

H.S. Staff & subj.: Clarence L. DeWees--Math (Rm.?) , Willard Smith --Coach & Gen. Sc., History &?  Rm. 7? , Mrs. Viola Cunningham --English Rm. 6, Mrs. Willard (Minnie Mae) Smith --Home Economics & 8th grades subjects. Rm. 8

Grade school Staff: 1 -- Mrs. DeWees Rm. 1, 2&3--Mrs. Ruby (Fowler)  McCollum  Rm. 2; 4&5--Velma McFarland, Rm. 3;   6&7--Mr. Walters Rm. 4.
I believe Mrs. McCollum was the replacement for Mrs.  Ethridge who left when Mr. Ethridge was drafted into military service.  It is remembered by students that Mrs. McCollum's  service may have been interrupted some during the year and that Velma McFarland and Ruby Heien substituted for considerable periods. But there may have been considerable problems staffing the grades this war year and the teachers had to fill in here and there.  This may explain why Mrs. McFarland is remembered as teaching both in room 2 and room 3. More input on the grades from classes of 51-55 is needed.
Janitor:
School board:  George McKinnis, Director;  R. V. Shockley, Clerk; Roy Bolding , Member
Bus Drivers:
 

1944-1945: H.S. Grad: Norris Dickson, J. R. Bock, William Jackson, Major McClure, Georgia Thompson, Addline Terry.
                                                                          View Graduation Pictures

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8: Kenneth Wallis,

H.S. Staff & subj.: Clarence L. DeWees--Math (Rm.?) ,Mr. Alcorn (Gene Medley replaced in Oct.) History . Coach & Geography & History &  ? Rm. 7?,: Mrs. Viola Cunningham-- English Rm. 6,  ???--Home Economics. & 8th grades subjects. Rm. 8

Grade school Staff: 1 -- Mrs. DeWees Rm. 1, 2&3-- Mrs. McCollum ? Rm. 2, 4&5-- Mrs. Alcorn to Oct. replaced by Mrs. McFarland? Rm. 3, 6&7--Mr. Walters Rm. 4.

Janitor:
School board:    George McKinnis, Director;  R. V. Shockley, Clerk; Roy Bolding , Member
Bus Drivers:

I am uncertain about the grades  1 to 3.  These are best guesses. I Think the Alcorn-McFarland is right for grades 4&5. The classes graduating in 1950-56 have already helped an  may be able to help more.  There is a big question about Home Econ.  this year.  Classes of 1945 to 1949 may be able to help.

1945-1946: H.S. Grad: Violet Brown, Jacquelyn Risenhoover, Betty Jo Wallis

Now we have the early drafts of a Collage for the class of '46 showing the graduates and five teachers!! Click here for views and the background story.

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8: Ellouise Brewer, Margetta Newton, Oscar Lee Estoll, De Vern Brown, LaVerne Jackson, Gaynelle Ellis(transferred to Mt.Park and grad. in 1945), Bobbie Curtis, Margie Holder, Arlie Holder, Wanda Moore, Virginia Johnson, Glenn Conn,

H.S. Staff & subj.: Clarence L. DeWees--Math (Rm.?) , Mr. Gene Medley--  Coach, History, and 8th grade subj.,  Rm. 7; Mrs. Viola Cunningham --English Rm. 6:   Mrs. Virginia Sims--Home Economics. & ?.  Rm. 8, , Hugh Stoops --Agriculture. Rm. A and D.

Grade school Staff: 1 -- Mrs. DeWees Rm. 1, 2&3-- Mrs. Gene (Sue) Medley, Rm. 2; 4&5--Mr. Mose Sims, Rm. 3; 6&7-- Mr. Walters Rm. 4.

Janitor:
School board:   George McKinnis, Director;  R. V. Shockley, Clerk; Roy Bolding , Member
Bus Drivers:

I think these assignments are rather firm; but if there is a conflict with anyone's memory let me know.

1946-1947: H.S. Grad: Sherman Ritchie, Neilan B. Brewer, Jackie Wayne Culvahouse, Eldon R. Dickson, Billy Olen Blish, Maggie Lee Barnes, David Denham, Jack Sims, Ernestine Dempsey, Rex McClure, Ann Reese, Nora Faye Ritchie, Mozell Jackson, Russell Patrick Shockley.  View Graduation Pictures

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8: Tommy Ray Reese Billy Jo Wallis, Christine Newton, Dorothy Curtis, Richard Wale, Prentiss Owens, Billy Brown, Bobby Brown, Doyle Morgan, Leonard Godfrey, Lena Godfrey, Doris Webb, Dorothy Curtis, Eulus Newton, Harold Haynie, Bobby Ray Smith, Ellouise Norman, Betty June Farrar (killed by lighting Apr. 1942), and others

H.S. Staff & subj.: V. E. Woods --- Biology Rm. 5, Joe Courtney-- Math & History etc. Rm. 7, Mrs. Viola Cunningham --English Rm. 6, Miss Marilyn McClure --- Commerce & 8th subj.? Rm. 8 ?(typing was in Rm. 5)

Grade school Staff: 1--Mrs. Hill, Rm. 1,   2&3 ____________-- Rm. 2, 4&5-- Mrs. Woods, Rm. 3, 6&7 -- Mr. Walters Rm. 4.
The information for Mrs. Hill appears firm..  It also  known that classes were grouped together as shown, and that Mrs. Woods and Mr. Walters were teaching.   The groups shown would be their logical assignments.  The arrangements for teaching one of groups is up in the air. Help from the graduates of '56 and 57.   Mrs. Fern Johnson may have been a grade school teacher this year..
Janitor:  Bud Ayers
School board:    George McKinnis, Director;  R. V. Shockley, Clerk; Roy Bolding , Member
Bus Drivers: Bud Ayers #3,  Mark McFarland #2?,
Lunch Room: Glee Ayers, Georgia Smith, Velma McFarland?

1947-1948: H.S. Grad: W. M. Terry, Ida Bell Dodd, Maxine Jackson, Jo Estoll, Reba Vanderslice, Jerry Lanterman, Jack Shelton. View Graduation Pictures

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8:

This year, the 8th grade was not a part of the high school.   The graduation collage shows five teachers with the subjects indicated.  Of these five it is likely that at least Kerbo and probably Martin taught some in the grades using the team teaching concept.

H.S. Staff & subj.: V. E. Woods -- Rm. 5., Margaret Martin-- Eng. Rm. 6, Thelma Kerbo--Commerce, Rm.  8, Carl Nikkel -- Coach & and Rm. 7?, W. R. Romig --Math Rm.?

Grade school Staff:    1&2 ?     3&4  Mrs. Woods or maybe Mrs. Kerbo and Mrs. Martin in a team ?,arrangement    5&6 Mr. Sims?,  7&8  Mr. Walters in Rm 4.
.  It possible Mrs. Woods did not teach regularly this year as she did not the next year.  Irene Nikkel probably did.  Possible Mr. Sims did not teach at Con. 8 this year. Also no evidence of Virginia Sims teaching Home Economics.

Classes from 52 to

Janitor:
School board:  George McKinnis, Director;  R. V. Shockley, Clerk; Roy Bolding , Member
Bus Drivers:  No specific information, prob. same as for the next year which is known.

Lunch Room: Glee Ayers, Georgia Smith, Velma McFarland? (all guesses  based on years before and after)

1948-1949:  H.S. Grad: Charlena Dempsey, Billie Jo Guy, Maxine Holder, Teddy Blish, Zoe Ella Sims, Patsy Ivey, Jimmy Reese, Tressa Lee Morris, Clell Joy Reese, C. H. McClure, Mary Shockley.   View Graduation Pictures

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8:
 

This year and in following years the concept of  "team teaching" at all levels seems to have been applied.  As far as I can determine Mr. Woods and Mr. Nikkel were the only staff who did not teach some in the grades below 9th.  Rooms 1,2,3 and 4 were used for the first 8 grades, with the teachers moving between classrooms.  So description is more complex than in earlier years.

H.S. Staff & subj.: V. E. Woods, Superintendent -- Rm. 5,M. L. Sims -- Biology & Geography, Rm. ? and 7th and 8th grade studies, Carl Nikkel -- Principal. & Coach & Social Studies, Margaret Martin-- English I,II,IV, Rm. 6,   Major McClure --Math (algebra and Geometry) and 8th grade studies. Mrs. Lloyd Hutchinson, Typing I,II--Rm5.

Grade school Staff:  1&2 Nora Kerbo,  Rm. 1;  3&4 Mrs. Lloyd Hutchinson and Margaret Martin, Rm.  , 5&6 Mrs. Irene Nikkel, Rm.3?, 7&8  Major McClure and M. L. Sims, Rm. 4

These assignments are ones deduced from the yearbook;  but  there was more sharing of the grade school load than this remembered by grade school students.  One example:  Miss  Kerbo teaching some 7&8th grade materials in Rm. 4.  If so someone else would have helped in 1&2.---Some more input from classes of 53-60. might clarify further details.

Janitor:
School board: George McKinnis, Director;  R. V. Shockley, Clerk;  Roy Bolding, Member
Bus Drivers: Harold Mathew,  #1-East Rt.; M. A. McFarland, #2-West Rt.,  Bud Ayers, #3-North Rt., Robert Schrader #4--South Rt.

Lunch Room: Glee Ayers, Georgia Smith, Velma McFarland
Elizabeth Heien provided me with a copy of the 1949 Yearbook which has even more information.  Click here for the staff page giving credit to those who produced the book.  The detail of this year would have been impossible to collect to easily without the aid of the Yearbook for 1949.  Still some questions noted at the end of this section.

1949-1950: H.S. Grad: Udell Curtis, Udell Battles, Mrs. Venita Battles, Ruth Ann Dickinson, Carson Vanderslice, Truman McClure, Sylvia Jean Brewer, DaWayne Lowell, Eva Jean Jackson.   View Graduation Pictures

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8:  Fred J. Dickson (cousin of Eldon) moved to Wichita KS,

H.S. Staff & subj.: V. E. Woods-- , Carl Nikkel -- Coach & , Mrs. Viola Cunningham --English Rm. 6?, W. W. Jamison, Math

Grade school Staff: 1&2 Nora Kerbo Rm. 1, 3&4 Mrs. V. E. Woods Rm. 2, 5&6 Mrs. Carl (Irene) Nikkel Rm. 3 , 7&8 Mr. M.L. Sims, Rm. 4.

This looks like a return to the general format of assignments used in 47-48, and in the years from 37-42.

Janitor:

School board:  Roy Bolding, President; R. V. Shockley, Clerk; Aaron C. Jackson, Vice President: Elmo Mitchell, Horace Holder, Members

.Bus Drivers: J. T. Cooper #1-East Rt.; M. A. McFarland #2-West Rt.., Lester Ellis #3-North Rt., Robert Schrader #4--South Rt.

Lunch Room: Glee Ayers, Georgia Smith, Velma McFarland

Note: This entry is relatively complete and accurate (aside from my own errors) because my
sister Janel had a 1949 yearbook. ²²

1950-1951: H.S. Grad: Charlotte Curtis, Keith Sockwell, Clara Denham, Patricia Schrader, Leta Faye Jackson, Billie Jean Storie
                                                                                                View Graduation Pictures
Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8: (all of Jr. class in 1949-50 yearbook graduated)

H.S. Staff & subj.: V. E. Woods-- ., Carl Nikkel -- Coach &. , Mrs. Viola Cunningham --English , Bobby Randquist--Math
was there any Home Econ. this year?

Grade school Staff:   Probabilities   Mrs. Woods, Mrs. Nikkel, Mr. Sims

Janitor:

School board:

Bus Drivers:

1951-1952: H.S. Grad: Elizabeth Heien, Dwight McClure, Margaret Vanderslice, Tommie Joe Holder, Donna Felter, Ronald Cunningham, Ruth (Absher) Smith, Deroy Davis    View Graduation Pictures

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8: (from the 49-50 Yearbook) Wiley James

H.S. Staff & subj.: V. E. Woods-- ., Carl Nikkel -- Coach &, Bobby W. Randquist-- Math & Commerce, Mrs. M. L. Sims --English & Home Economics.

Grade school Staff:  Probable Mr. Sims 7&8,  Mrs. Nikkel 5&6, Mrs. Woods 3&4, 1&2 ????

Janitor:

Lunch Room:

School board:  Roy Bolding ;   Aaron Jackson;  Elmo Mitchel;  Russell Shockley ; Horace Holder

Bus Drivers:

1952-1953: H.S. Grad: Royce Bolding, Danny McClure, Marlene McClure, Janel Culvahouse, Herman Ritchie, Elaine McClure, George Sorrell, Noel Brewer, Dean Mitchell, June Clark    View Graduation Pictures

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8: (from the 49-50 Yearbook) J. W. Denham, (from Student Newpaper)Gary Norvelle

H.S. Staff & subj.: V. E. Woods--- , Carl Nikkel -- Coach & , B. W. Randquist , Mrs. M. L. Sims--

Grade school Staff:  Probable Mr. Sims 7&8,  Mrs. Nikkel 5&6, Mrs. Woods 3&4, 1&2 ????

Janitor

Lunch Room:    Glee Ayers, Dorothy Hall (till Dec. then Lillie Guy)
School board: Roy Bolding, President: Arron Jackson, Vice President; Elmo Mitchel, Clerk;  Russell Shockley, Member; Horace Holder, Member.

Bus Drivers:

1953-1954: .H.S. Grad: Netha Vanderslice Wells, Eva Faye Curtis, Bill Brock, Carol McFarland Bolding, Voyl Holder, Nolan Ayers, Winnie Risenhoover, Thelma Barnes, Bill Turner, Ray Curtis  View Graduation Pictures

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8:  Ralph J. Dickson,  (and from the 49-50 Yearbook) Marlene Holt, Virginia Webb, Duane Smith --but some could be missing members of the 54-55 class class

H.S. Staff & subj.: V. E. Woods -- ., Mr. Thomas Avants --Commerce , Mrs. Virginia Sims -- English & Home Economics, Mr. Lloyd Howeth --- Coach & History

Grade school Staff:   1&2 -- Mrs. Bernice Maloy, Rm. 1?;  3&4-Mrs. V. E. (Opal )Woods; Rm. 2?, 5&6 -Mr. M. L. Sims; 7&8 ---probably several teachers from the high school staff, but probably all work in Rm. 4.

Janitor:
School board:    Roy Bolding President;   Aaron Jackson; Vice-President; Elmo Mitchel, Clerk;  Russell Shockley, Member; Horace Holder, Member.
Bus Drivers:  Bud Ayers, Mark McFarland, Tesla Cooper
Lunchroom:   Glee Ayers, Lillie Guy
 

• Lajuan (Nichols) Norvelle supplied a 1953-54 Yearbook from which much of this information was taken.
• The Yearbook for this year list only three bus drivers.  Were there only three bus routes this year?  I had other reports that this was the case in the last few years of operation..
• Apparently both 7&8 were integrated into the high school program. The number of teachers appears to have dropped to seven.

1954-1955: H.S. Grad: Lajuan Norvelle, Thelma Taylor, Lee Schrader, Rita Gail Smith, Neal Hickerson View Graduation Pictures

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8:  (from the 49-50 Yearbook) Wilbur Owens, Peggy Clark, Berlyn Wefer, Sue Hill, Buddy Clark, Juanna Petkoff, Joe Burl Fowler (and from the 53-54 Yearbook), Peggy  Burleson--some could have been members of an earlier class..

H.S. Staff & subj.: Asa Marshall-- , Mrs. Sims -- English & Home Economics. , B. W. Randquist -- Coach & Math, T. W. Avants-- Math; M. L. Sims, Biology.

Grade school Staff:  No information at all. However still probably only 7 teachers total of whom 5 are listed on the graduation collage.  Would leave two others.  Probably they handled the first four grades and the 5,6,7&8 taught by team method although that method  may have been used in the lower grades as well.

Janitor:
School board:
Bus Drivers:

1955-1956: H.S. Grad: Florence Brock, Donald Holt, Birlee Schrader, Elwanda Cunningham, Leo Dickinson, Carol McClure, Lyndon McClure  View Graduation Picture

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8: (from  the 49-50 Yearbook) Andy Vanderslice, Cleatus Stephens, Roxie Cooper,   (and from the 53-54 Yearbook) Gary Ellis, Andy Vanderslice

H.S. Staff & subj.: E. L. Whitten -- , Tom Avants-- , Mrs. M. L. Sims -- teacher

Grade school Staff:   No direct information. Only three teachers listed on the graduation picture.  That suggest that grades 1-8 were taught by 4 teachers perhaps with Mr. Sims as grade principal and 7&8 teacher.
Janitor:
School board:
Bus Drivers:

1956-1957. H.S. Grad: Janny Shockley, Melba Curtis, Ruth Ann Turner, Bobby Cunningham, Thurman Ritchie, Kay Messick, Mae Ann Bolding  View Graduation Picture

Known Members who did not grad. Con. 8: (from 49-50 Yearbook) Joyce Stephens, Calvin Jackson, Rhea Turner, Carol Ayers, Jenette Petkoff, Karlrose Nikkel, Mary James, (and from the 53-54 Yearbook) Edwin Taylor, Edna Taylor, Rea Turner, Cecil Owens.

H.S. Staff & subj.: E. L. Whitten-- ., Don Marshall -- Math, Mr. M. L. Sims -- Biology , Mrs. M. L. Sims -- English

Grade school Staff:  No information at all.  We seem to have the pattern of high school teachers of 2 years earlier but with 4 teachers listed instead of 4.   That leaves 3 to be associated with grades.  Looks like that would be logically 1-6 in rooms 1 to 3, with 7&8 team taught by some of high school teachers in Rm. 4.
 

Janitor:
School board:
Bus Drivers:

Classes That would have Graduated in the next Eleven years

The pride of being a Con. 8 'er persisted after the school was gone.  Those who attended Con. 8 only for a few years still identified with the community.   The students who remained in the area after 1957 attended the Roosevelt school, except a few who  transferred to the Warren School, across the river in Jackson County.  Many of those students  have graduated from Roosevelt High School but we can claim them all as Con. 8'ers.     The following is the beginning of a list of students  for those classes which has been assembled  from class  pictures for grades 1-8  in the  spring 1954 year book.

Classes of  1958 and 1959:
Virginia Brock, Winnie Vanderslice, Alice Clark, Myrle Nichols, Paula Clark, Charles Cunningham, Georgia Henderson, Jack Felter, Jay Orr, Jewell Greear, Harvey Webb, Mona Burleson, Loretta Smith, Glen Jackson, Virginia York, David Cooper

Classes of 1960 and 1961:
 Deanna Holt, LaRue Turner, Phil Vanderslice, Gayle Brown, Jerry Curtis, Stanley Bridenstine, Sammy Story, James Smith, Jerry Greear, Peggy Hawkins, Edward Burleson, Kenneth Harris, Geraldine Turner, DeWayne Owens

Class of 1962:
Janis Vanderslice, Donnie Dodd, Lillie Mitchell, Richard Sims, Johnny Greear, Austilene Turner, Larry Brock, Joe Taylor, Henry Dempsey, Tommie Henderson, Eric Jackson, Ted Schrader

Class of  1963:
Kenny Storie, Mary Dempsey, Georgette Clark, Ray Orr, Pat Davis, Lex Clark,  Lester Bridenstine, Helen Henderson, Jimmy Guy, Jean Schrader, Martena Jackson, Paul Nichols, Doris Baden, Mary Webb

Classes of 1964 and 1965:
Mary Beck, Gene Cunningham, Janet Sims, Carl Turner, Wanda Owens, Beth Brown, Junior Curtis, Sandra Brock, Rita Dodd, Bobby Guy, Susie Self, Carol Dempsey, Phil Schrader, Margaret Nichols, Randy Jackson, Cheryl McCollom, Troy Clark, Jerri Jones, Johnny Hawkins, Syble Henderson. 

Sources

-----Note that  PKC = Pioneering in Kiowa County and PKC-3 would be Vol. 3 of that series.

I have four printings of brief Con. 8 School Histories that were distributed at Reunions.

1. One of these is undated and I think was distributed at the 1979 reunion and mentions Velma McFarland as the author or the source.

2. I have two printings of a history which includes contributions from Velma McFarland and Blanche McClure. Both appear under the Student Review masthead with the date July 4, 1981. The later printing was distributed at some other reunion that I was able to attend and refers to it being written at an earlier date. I think that Kinley McClure edited the 1981 version or knows who did. I plan to inquire.

3. I have a new one prepared by the Class of 1949 for the 1999 reunion. The first two volumes of Pioneering in Kiowa County are credited among the sources.

I have two other brief histories written by residents who remember the earliest days.

4. One history is written by Mary (Briggs) Bock. The copy I have was provided to me by Maggie Lee (Barnes) Walker and is not explicitly dated, but the content shows that it was written within a few months of the closing of the school in May 1957. It would appear that it might have been written for publication in a Newspaper.

5. Maggie Lee (Barnes) Walker has also provided me with a copy of a manuscript written by Ruby (Burton) Heien. An annotation gives the date as 1988. LaNell (DeWees) Frick has told me that Ruby wrote several.  This, I suppose, is probably the latest.

There are six volumes of Pioneering in Kiowa County and several of them contain stories related to the Con. 8 Community and Schools. The following is a tabulation of articles which I have found that are primarily about the Con. 8 School. I will identify their location by the abbreviation PKC-1, PKC-2, etc. followed by the page number at which the relevant article begins.

6. PKC-2, p 259. Meredith (Penn) Agnew the daughter of George F. Penn has made numerous very informative contributions to PKC. This is her account of the earliest days of Con. 8 with a number excellent pictures including the one of the wooden building dated in the caption as 1912-1929.

7. PKC-2, p 260. The editor of this volume perceptively included just after Mrs. Agnew's, a contribution from Don A. Hoover titled A "Busing Incident". Mr. Hoover who had previously attended Mackey just a half mile from their farm, writes about the first year of busing to a three room consolidated school six miles away which he does not name. He gives the year as 1911. The school of course must be Con. 8. It provides interesting anecdotal evidence of early conditions.

8. PKC-2, p 256. This is a description of the Mullins school submitted by Irene (Sockwell) Jones and Reuben Dempsey. None of the old Mullins district was ever annexed into Con. 8, however the materials from the last schoolhouse at Mullins was reincarnated as the new Home of W.P. Dempsey in the Con. 8 district in 1929. Also, from 1921 till 1929, the schoolhouse at Mullins was the central school of Unified District No. 10, and all the students above sixth grade attended classes there, so that many Con. 8 students after 1929 had attended classes at the Mullins site.

9. PKC-3, p 224: A brief note by V. H. (Dick) Culvahouse generally about his memories of the Community from the twenties to the eighties. Two related stories by V. H. in this volume are listed next. Sybil Culvahouse was a facilitator for all of these.

10. PKC-3, p 218: Memories of V. H. C. about Centerville (in the old Shiloh Community) from 1916-1929.

11. PKC-3, p 218: V. H. C. 's Memories of a mysterious recluse named Ab or Abb Fisk who intrigued all of the Shiloh Community in the twenties.

12. PKC-3, p 41. Another contribution by George F. Penn's daughter Meredith Penn Agnew. This one has a drawing of the magnificent old Penn house three quarters of a mile north of the "Con. 8 Gin Corner.", the quarter section on which the Olive Branch School was located. This story contributes a great deal of general background for life in that part Kiowa County in the period from 1901 to the twenties, the time in which Mr. Penn played an important role in the development of what we now call the Con. 8 community.

13. PKC-3, p 131 This is another contribution by Meredith Penn Agnew in this volume: which is titled George F. Penn but is really a story about a black family living on the  North Fork of Red about a millionth of present highway 19 and of one of those spectacular floods that changed the course of the river and eliminated a forty-acre piece of arable land in the process.

14. PKC-6, p 18. This reference refers to the pages 18-39 of that volume, which is titled Kiowa County Schools. The first part is a general history of Kiowa County Schools It is stated in an Editor's Note that "This History of Kiowa county school was prepared by Frank A. Balyeat, Field Representative, Department of Manuscripts, The University of Oklahoma Library, Norman, Oklahoma. It was researched by Sally Mansell, Hobart, Oklahoma". Within the text, Dr. Balyeat refers to the time of writing as 1958.

15. History of the Schools of Kiowa County 1901-1958 by Dr. Frank A. Balyeat. I first learned of this from a footnote in the article about Mullins (PKC-2, p 256); but there was no indication of a publisher or whereto find copies. Maggie (Barnes) Walker obtained a copy of it from the Kiowa County Courthouse Files, with the help of Patti Johnson who seems to be able to achieve miracles. My inspection indicates that the material in PKC-6 is the same as the original report and not a revised version. There is no indication of to whom the report was made or if it was published.  I   will give the PKC-6 page numbers as that is most accessible published form known to me. This is a scholarly work with a very comprehensive discussion of the early school system. It also contains extensive numerical data.  I have not yet been able to determine exactly what all the source documents were. I think that some may be the archives of the County Superintendent's office.

16. Pages 39-93 of PKC-6: This, the remainder of Chapter III, is a very extensive and interesting collection of stories and pictures relating to the individual schools. The schools are arranged in alphabetical order. (However remember some schools have several names). Some will find all of these of interest. I have just listed as separate references those which I have used explicitly.

17. PKC-6, p 44. Consolidated 8: This is another contribution by Velma (Sims) McFarland. It contains some of the material in the earlier versions, and additional material. The picture following her article is labeled Con. 8. School house. It is different from the wooden building shown in reference 6. I thought for a while we had a picture of that Con. 8 school house that burned in 1911 before it was used. However the car shown in the front of the building is certainly of later than 1918 vintage.  Comparison with the picture of the Mullins school PKC-6, p 80 and Memories of old Mullins people suggest strongly that is a later (about 1925-28) picture of the Mullins school house, which has been misidentified or misplaced in the editing. The editors have done a wonderful job dealing with large amounts of complex material, but there is also another transposition of Mullins pictures, three of the four class pictures for Snyder in this volume are pictures of Mullins classes.

18. PKC-6, p 49. Gladson School. Article by Nona (Edge) Murphy.  A good picture of the Gladson school in 1919 is included with an account of the school and some of the teachers and pupils in the 1910-20 decade.  Although according to Balyeat, Gladson held classes through 1940-41, it certainly contributed high school students to Con. 8 at least from the time of Con. 8.'s accreditation as a four year school. Leonard (Chig) Cleal of the 1933 class resided in the Gladson district. Also Blanche (Higdon) Ethridge attended Con. 8 about 1915 or 1916 and her family was probably residing in the Gladson district

18a. PKC-6, p 112.  Nona (Edge) Murphy's brief note on her parents George and Minnie Edge..

19. PKC-6, p 56: No stories in this, but this and following pages present seven pictures of Koonkazachey school and classes with a large number of students identified by name.. On p 59, 1938-39 includes the Blish brothers (spelled Bish there) who were in the Con. 8 district within the next 2 years. (Conversation with Ted Blish establishes date of first attendance at Con. 8 as 1940-41.)

20.Rural Schools of Southwestern Oklahoma , Joseph K. Anderson and Susan Bearden. Museum of the Great Plains Report 96-5. Submitted to Oklahoma Historical Society January 1958. Lists the locations of a number of schools in Kiowa County. The entry for Lone Star seems to identify it entirely with Con. 8, a misidentification in view of other facts.

21.Short Stories, George Dempsey (unpublished). Many of these stories contain illuminating insights into life in the community during the twenties and thirties.

22. Con. 8 Yearbook for 1950. Edited by staff of Eva Jean Jackson, Sylvia Brewer, Elizabeth Heien, Charlotte Curtis, Truman McClure, Venita Battles with V. E. Woods Advisor. .

23. The Kiowa County Home Page, www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/12633/okkiowa.html .Ms. Taylor has a very good home page dealing with Kiowa County. Look it over.

24. PKC-6, p 234. Mrs. J. B. (Marie Manchester) Willis relates her early day experiences from 1910 forward on a homestead in the Con. 8 district and next to the twin mountains. There are references to young Mark McFarland whose father homesteaded next to the Manchesters. Very interesting experiences with respect to claims. Her mother homesteaded one of her own before she married Marie's father. Her's had been relinquished or abandoned and was available for homesteading. She relates a story about attending Con. 8 in the early twenties.

25. Letter from Pauline (Dempsey) Manning. Daughter of Warren P. Dempsey and wife of Joseph Manning.  Pauline attended Shiloh, Mullins and Con. 8 beginning in 1929.

26. PKC-1, p 186.  Lillie Dempsey gives her memories of the formation of Centerville and the Shiloh school 1 mile to the west.

27. PKC-1, p 270.  Goldie Cooper tells a lot about "Frog Pond" or Pleasant Valley, district 60, although the title says district 90.

28. PKC-1, pp 276-279.  An extensive article by Sally Mansell about Koonkazachey.